grow as we go
by becstothefecsio
Summary: 16 years after the one-night stand that resulted in a baby, Jesse and Beca hook up again and have a hard time keeping their hands off each other. Beca insists that their attraction isn't a good enough reason to risk jeopardizing their relationship as co-parents and hurt their son in the process. Jesse disagrees and plans to change her mind but a serious curveball sets him back.
1. Chapter 1

**_Prologue._**

_Three knocks woke Jesse up from his slumber. Three sharp, and loud for his hungover ass, _knocks_._

_He pulled himself up, thinking his roommate lost his keys again and walked in heavy steps to get the door._

_"Coming," he throatily said to the person behind the door when they knocked again._

_Rubbing his tired eyes, he cleared his throat and unlocked the door. He stepped back in surprise when he saw who was at the door. "Hey," he greeted not hiding his surprise. "Beca," he called, remembering her despite the fact that he only met her once before, approximately two months ago._

_"You remember me. Good," she breathed a sigh of relief._

_"Of course, I remember you." She was kind of hard to forget._

_He opened the door widely, "Um, c'mon on in." He frowned noting how anxious she was. "You okay?" he questioned when she zoned out while she stared at him._

_"Not really." She snapped out of her thoughts. "Sorry for showing up unannounced." He shrugged. "Didn't think to even find you home."_

_He glanced at the time and saw that it was 3:15 pm. His hungover ass slept too much._

_"I wasn't even gonna tell you but I can't do that. I just can't _not_ let you know." She shrugged._

_He was confused but decided to hear her out then ask questions._

_"I'm pregnant," she informed, meeting his gaze. "And before you ask, yep, I'm sure it's yours. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't sure. I don't care if you choose not to believe me. I just figured it wouldn't be fair if I didn't let you know. Now if you excuse me, I have an appointment to get to." She turned on her heels._

_"Wait," he called. She was already reaching for the door to open the car when he called. She dropped a bomb on him and didn't even give him time to process the fact that a good time wasn't the only outcome of the one night stand they had. "Can you reschedule your appointment? We need to talk."_

_She shook her head. "It's an important one."_

_"Oh, okay." He paused. "Well, are you keeping it— I mean the baby—I mean our baby?" he asked._

_She looked surprised for a second and opened the door. "Yeah, I'm keeping it."_

_"You sure you can't reschedule? I don't think I'll be able to wait until you're free to talk about what we're doing about this. If we want to get married—"_

_"Dude, no," she interrupted. "Just keep living your life. I'll let you know later the due date and all."_

_"But I want to be involved." He frowned._

_He didn't see a reason why he shouldn't believe her. She seemed sincere. The way she worded the news made it pretty convincing._

_She looked less anxious yet not completely relieved, playing with her car keys. "I'm seeing my OB-GYN in thirty-five minutes to get an ultrasound... first baby ultrasound."_

_"Let me put some shoes on." He waited until she nodded. "Wait," he said as he got inside the house. He quickly threw some clothes on as well as his shoes and wallet before he rushed out of the house._

* * *

**16 years later.**

"Why are you mad at the door?" Jesse asked, looking up from his laptop as he laid on the couch.

"Slipped from my hand," Aiden mumbled, readjusting one of his earphones and walking towards the stairs.

Jesse glanced out of the window while the boy climbed the stairs and saw that Beca's car was still in front of his house. He could see her head against the wheel, which couldn't be good. Sighing, he closed the lid of the laptop then put it aside as he got up. "Didn't go well, huh?" he asked once she rolled the window down the moment he knocked on the glass.

"No." She ran a hand through her hair.

"Did he do something he should be apologizing for?" he wondered.

She shook her head in response.

"I thought you'd tell him once it's official, have you made up your mind already?" he wondered in confusion.

"Aiden overheard me and dad talk about moving over back to Barden and asked me if we're gonna be relocating then got pissed when I told him that if I did move to Barden he'll be staying here in L.A. with you." She blew a breath, rubbing her temples. "Am I a bad parent for not wanting him to give up his life here?"

"No," Jesse stated the obvious. "He'll come around… I'll talk to him."

"Thanks," she smiled curtly at him and he stepped back so she could drive off. Except, she didn't. She instead undid her seatbelt and stepped out of the car.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm not sure, it smells like something is burning," she mumbled in response as she walked around the car to look at the engine. He stood by her side as she checked some fuses.

"It's leaking," she informed and pointed at the engine's valve cover gasket.

Jesse nodded noticing the oil. "If it's leaking all the way up, it's surely dripping..."

"…on the exhaust pipe which of course gets hot and causes the god awful smell," she finished for him.

"Yep," he nodded. "Gaskets aren't that expensive," he told her when she let out a heavy sigh.

"But the labor will be," she muttered, scratching her temple.

"I can do it," he offered. "For free," he added when she snapped her head to look at him. "Wait, not for free, I'll have some of those awesome cupcakes you'd send with Aiden on holidays." He grinned at the eye roll he received. "I think it's a fair deal." He shrugged when she looked back at the car while biting her bottom lip.

"Very," she deadpanned. "How much time would it take to get it changed and when would you change it?"

"Not a lot of time and as soon as I can get my hands on a new gasket," he answered. "Tell you what, how about we go get what we need for the cupcakes as well as the kit?"

"Right now?" she said in surprise.

"Yeah, unless you have somewhere to be."

"No, I'm free for the evening," she replied.

* * *

"Your gasket is changed, where are my cupcakes?" Jesse asked upon entering the kitchen.

"They'll be ready in like five minutes," she nodded at the oven. "Shouldn't you go wash your hands first?" she wondered when he pulled the fridge door open and grabbed a beer.

"I plan to wash them, I just need this first, want one?" he was saying as he removed the cap and brought the beer to his lips. "Where is he?" Jesse lowered his voice a little as he handed her a beer.

"Upstairs," she informed, using the counter's edge to open the bottle.

"I saw him come into the kitchen earlier through the window, did you talk?" he wanted to know and she nodded.

"And?" he said in anticipation.

"I won't be going anywhere without him and I can't take him away from you so I'm staying in L.A."

"Beca, he loves you more and can barely stay over for a couple of days. I don't mind if you took him away... he could come over on holidays."

"Don't say that. Aiden loves you just as much. He physically can't stand it here because of his allergy to dogs. Where is your dog, by the way?" she asked, frowning, as she looked around, noticing the dog's absence.

"Jen took him," he answered, shaking the beer. "We broke up like five months ago, Beca," he reminded.

"Right," she nodded.

She had a lot on her mind and keeping track of his love life had no place in her busy mind.

"Where's your better half?" he asked, breaking the silence they got in as they sipped their beer.

"With _her_ better half. I'm just the side chick except she calls me for parenting advice instead of regular side chick stuff," she deadpanned.

Jesse chuckled at her tone.

"What's for dinner?" Aiden was asking as he stepped inside the kitchen.

"Good question," Jesse quipped.

"Don't look at me, I'll be gone once the cupcakes are ready," Beca said when Aiden looked at her.

"Ever since Dad and Jen broke up, we've been eating pizza and while I love pizza I don't want to have it for dinner whenever I spend the night here," Aiden informed and received a glare from his old man.

"You could have mentioned something when I'd ask what you want for dinner," Jesse said not daring to look at Beca. Aiden was making him look bad in front of her. "Well, what do you want for dinner tonight?" Jesse asked when the boy shrugged.

"Anything is fine, Dad," Aiden said while Beca pulled the cupcakes from the oven.

"Would you guys like to have pasta?" Beca suggested, eyeing Jesse as she set the tray on the counter.

"Pasta sounds good," Aiden said. "Dad?" he called.

"Yeah," he nodded, pulling a drawer open and grabbing a handful of takeout menus. "I think I have the takeout menu of this Italian place that makes great pasta."

"Oh, Mom, make the pan one," Aiden requested.

Jesse looked between the two and was about to tell Beca she didn't have to but then realized it would be the first the three sat down for dinner together in years. He could remember the last time they had dinner on the same table: Aiden was barely five.

"I'd love to have some pan pasta," he said.

She thought about it for a second before she agreed.

* * *

"I'm good." Beca held up the beer she had yet to finish when Jesse offered her a drink from the bottle of whiskey he brought from his bar.

"You sure there isn't something I could do to help?" he asked, filling a glass of whiskey. He already set the table and felt pretty useless.

"There isn't much to do." She shrugged. "Pan Pasta is pretty easy to pull off."

"Hey, are you seeing anyone?" he casually asked moments later.

She frowned at the random question. "Why? Got someone you wanna set me up with?" she countered.

"Not exactly," he chuckled to himself. "It might be the liquor but I think I have a brilliant idea that might be the solution to all your problems."

"All of my problems, huh?" She rested her hands on the kitchen island, facing him as he stood on the other end.

He nodded.

"I didn't know you're aware of _my problems_."

"I know more about you than you think, Beca," he was saying as he refilled his glass.

"That's kinda creepy, but go on, what's your brilliant idea?" She watched him take a large sip of whiskey and set the glass down.

"Marry me," he told her and was met with a blank look. "Tax cuts," he continued. "You could use those marital tax deductions."

She rolled her eyes.

"Beca, you can't afford to live in L.A. anymore," he stated. "And you won't take child support."

"I'll figure something out," she mumbled.

"Marry me and get those legal benefits… as well a rent-free house."

This time she let out a humorless laugh.

"When did you get this idea?" she asked. "You clearly thought it through."

"While changing the gasket. I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't like that Aiden doesn't love me as much as he loves you. I don't know what went wrong. And, no, it's not the dog allergy. The dog's been away for quite a while now and whenever he's here Aiden stays in his room the whole time and we barely talk."

"He loves us the same," she told him sharply. "He's fifteen, Jesse. You know kids his age and their mood swings."

"Just think about it, Beca."

"No, I've worked so hard to make sure Aiden leads a healthy balanced life and this will fuck him up for sure."

"How will living with the two of us under the same roof fuck him up?"

"He'll get ideas, Jesse. He'll wish we'd get together. He'll want a regular family. I mean it must cross his mind sometimes but at least I know he accepts how things are."

"He also must know you're not doing well financially since he decided to work this summer so he could help pay rent."

"He told you that?" She frowned.

He nodded. "I asked what he wanted to buy with his paycheck then had to force it out of him when he wouldn't tell me. He resisted so much I legit thought he was in trouble."

"Well, I won't let him pay for anything either don't worry."

"It won't fuck him up if we told him from the get-go why we're getting married and why you're moving in with me."

"No," she said, shaking her head.

"Then take child support."

"We're done talking about this," she decided and went back to preparing dinner.

"Why are you like this?" he said in frustration, watching her cook.

"I can manage on my own. I don't need your help."

"I don't think it's healthy for a fifteen-year-old to worry about money when I can afford a good life for the two of you." He paused for a second. "What if he's treating me like a stranger because he thinks I don't care enough to step in?"

"I'll talk to Aiden and see why he's acting up," she told him.

"Will you think about my proposal, though?" He was met with silence. "We'll get a divorce once you're back on your feet."

He really hoped she'd say yes because he hated seeing her struggle. They weren't really friends or anything, they just had a kid between them who was basically the only reason they were in each other's lives. But it didn't mean he didn't care about her. Besides, he meant what he said about Aiden treating him like a stranger.

"Fine, then let me loan you money and you can give it back whenever you can," he added not baring the silence.

"What part of I don't need your help you don't get?" she wondered, looking him dead in the eye.

"It doesn't even count as help. It's your right as Aiden's custodial parent to take child support."

"I don't want your money, Jesse," she told him in irritation.

"I won't just sit back—"

"—Are you saying you'll take it to court?" she interrupted her expression hardening.

"Jesus, Beca, no, I won't try to take Aiden from you," he sighed.

She seemed ready for a fight and the last thing he wanted was to fight with her.

"He doesn't have to know, you know? We could elope and not let him or anyone know."

"No," she curtly said.

He sighed, watching her as she tucked the hair that fell on her face behind her ear. His eyes fell on the small triangle tattooed on her wrist that he had never seen before.

"When did you get that?" He nodded at the tattoo.

"Like a month ago," she answered.

"Why do you have a triangle tattooed on your wrist?" he went on to ask.

"Because I felt like tattooing a triangle on my wrist," she replied.

"What does it mean?" he wondered and saw the way her lips twitched a little.

"It's a triangle, pretty self-explanatory, don't you think?"

"You're not a hipster so, nope, it's not just a triangle."

"Feel free to guess what it _really_ means," she told him, the annoyance gone from her voice replaced with slight amusement.

He wanted to help badly but couldn't exactly force her so he figured he'd let it go, pressing her wouldn't get him anywhere.

"Could it be the one who greeted death as an old friend?" he guessed and saw utter confusion on her face. "The tale of the three brothers," he added. "The Deathly Hallows from Harry Potter?"

"For someone who claims they know me, you'd think you would know that I don't like movies."

"Okay, I knew that. I know that you don't like movies, doesn't mean you don't watch movies. Harry Potter is an international phenomenal I assumed you would have seen it and the books were big before the movies were made," he explained. "Oh, I got it!" he exclaimed, a second later. "It's to express your undying love for Doritos."

"Yeah, and I have Mountain Dew tattooed on my butt cheek," she said in response making him laugh.

It was weird how one minute she was driving him crazy and made him want to pull his hair out of frustration and the next he's laughing at her deadpan joke.

"Dinner is ready," she told him, unaware that he was checking her out as she spoke.

"I'll go tell Aiden," he mumbled, bringing his glass of whiskey to his lips and turning on his heels.

* * *

"He's such a sweet boy," Beca was saying as she and Jesse sat in his living room watching some home videos from Aiden's childhood. The current video was from his seventh birthday.

"He really is," Jesse agreed, reaching to get a hold of the whiskey to pour himself some more. "We did well." He held his hand up for a high five. "C'mon, don't leave me hanging. We made a pretty awesome kid: we deserve some credit for having amazing genes."

"That's not how it works… that's not how anything works."

"Eh." He shrugged, still waiting for her to high five him.

"You're a weirdo," she told him, caving in and high fiving him.

"So are you," he replied, resting his elbow on the arm of the couch.

"No, I'm not."

"Oh, you totally are. Even the universe knows how much of a weirdo you are."

"The universe?" She was buzzed but he was completely trashed and very entertaining.

"Uh-huh." He pushed himself up. "The universe knows that weirdos are very important and need to procreate hence Aiden."

"Wow," she laughed. "So, you're telling me that our one night stand sixteen years ago was the universe's plan to get us to make a child solely because we're weirdos?"

"Exactly!" He nodded. "Don't laugh, I'm serious," he added when she laughed.

"Sorry," she apologized half-heartedly. "So, does this mean Aiden is also a weirdo?" she asked, taking a sip from her beer.

"A full-blooded weirdo." It was so hard to keep a straight face but she did.

"That's interesting," she clicked her tongue, checking the time on her watch. "I should head out," she told him. "It's getting really late."

"You've been drinking, it's not safe for you to drive," he slurred.

He was drunk as hell but he still had common sense. "Spend the night over."

"I'd rather not. You got coffee?" She needed to sober up before she got behind the wheel.

"Yeah," he answered and took her hand when she offered it to help him get up and laughed when she couldn't pull him upwards.

"Sorry," he apologized for eventually causing her to fall on top of him.

"It's fine," she mumbled, pushing herself up.

"Can I know why you'd rather not spend the night?" he went on to ask, watching her as she distanced herself from him.

"No particular reason I just want to maintain the boundaries we have," she told him, readjusting her shirt then tucking it into her pants.

"That's such bullshit, Beca." He shook his head in amusement, bringing his glass of whiskey to his lips.

"Excuse me?" She arched an eyebrow.

"Your walls aren't boundaries," he told her. "Wait, not walls. It's a fortress at this point. You've built a fortress around yourself to make sure no one could ever reach you."

His words made her uncomfortable but he couldn't see that, not when his vision was so damn blurry. His drunk rambling wasn't as entertaining when she was subject of the said rambling.

"What would it take to wreck it down? Some c-four, perhaps?" he went on to say and earned a snort. "Figurative c-four that is."

"And what is it exactly?" she asked.

She was standing right in front of him while he struggled to push himself into a sitting position on the couch.

"It's a combination of things actually," he told her and paused briefly to take a sip of his whiskey before he placed the glass on the coffee table. "First, you got excellent love-making because duh."

"Of course," she nodded along amused by how serious he was and sat down on the coffee table.

"Gotta get the sexy stuff right." He shrugged. "Second, patience. A whole lot of patience because you will try to drive whoever gets too close away and they have to become Joseph basically and roll with the punches."

"Who?"

"Joseph." He paused to hiccup. "The prophet whose brothers were jealous of because their dad favored him over them that they decided to kill him then changed their minds and put him in a well instead… it's a long story. There's this Broadway show that tells his story it's called Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It's on iTunes, I highly recommend you listen to it."

"Noted." She wasn't going to listen to it.

"We're sidetracking." He inhaled deeply. "So, we got awesome sex." He held his index up. "Patience." He made the peace sign.

"Uh-Huh."

He took too long of a pause. "Wait, I'm thinking." He rubbed his face. "Right! Never ever try to "fix you"," he said, using air-quotes. "It's not their job. You're you and they gotta accept you the way you are and be supportive no matter what. And, that's about it, I think. The rest is regular relationship stuff that should be in every relationship not just one with someone like yourself."

"Didn't realize you know _all about_ figurative explosives." She had to throw in a sarcastic comment.

Jesse grinned in response, not taking offense at her sarcastic jab. "I should get you that coffee now," he figured.

"I'll go make it myself." She worried he'd break something because he was very drunk.

"No, no, I got it." He stood up at last and led the way to the kitchen, humming under his breath a tune from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Beca was amazed by how well Jesse handled things: she really doubted he'd manage to put some coffee to brew. She felt a tad bad for underestimating him.

"You gonna wake up with a killer hangover, Jesse. You should drink some water."

"Huh?" He pulled his head back from the fridge after he pulled a jar of peanut butter from it.

"I said you should hydrate, you had a lot to drink."

"I'm not drunk at all you're just blurry," he countered and grinned when she rolled her eyes. "Want some?" He held a spoonful of peanut butter her way.

"No." The last thing she needed was sugar in the middle of the night. "You got peanut butter all over your face," she went on to tell him.

He tried to clean it and failed. Spotting a roll of paper towel on the counter, she grabbed it and tore some paper towel.

"God, you're worse than Aiden when he was a baby," she mumbled, cleaning his cheek, conscious of his hand on her waist.

"No, I'm not," he scoffed, placing the jar on the counter. "Bet Aiden never stood still when you'd try to clean his face."

"Good point," she admitted. "But you're holding onto me to stay put…" she assumed he was holding onto her because he was digging his fingers into her waist.

"All clean," she told him, eyeing his cheek.

"Thanks," he said in response, tilting his head to look at her.

She didn't realize how close he was until he was facing her. She should probably put some distance between them but couldn't exactly move when he had a hold of her waist and was leaning in.

"You still have some peanut butter," she muttered.

"Can you get it?"

"Sure," she mumbled and reached with the paper towel to clean the corner of his mouth. She was tempted to kiss him and the fact that he was in her personal space made it hard to resist the urge. "You're good." She looked up and didn't know exactly how to react when he pressed his lips against hers.

When she didn't kiss him back and sort of just stood there, Jesse pulled away. "I'm sorry," he apologized, dropping the hand that was on her waist.

"Don't be." She leaned up and kissed him, holding onto his shoulder and grinning when he kissed her back instantly.

It was impulsive on her part and she was blaming the alcohol in her system even if it wasn't that much.

"What are we doing?" she mumbled as he picked her helping her wrap her legs around his waist.

"Tonsil hockey," he answered, undoing the buttons of her shirt with one hand while his other hand supported her weight.

"You're such a weirdo," she said, pulling away to breathe.

He was breathing heavily and was looking at her funny. He was trying really hard to focus his vision and really look at her.

"Wow, you're hot," he noted, his eyes fixating on her chest. "Like, _really _hot. How are you single, again?" he leaned in when she cupped his face and pulled him closer.

"No one could get their hands on figurative c four," she answered.

"Shame." He shook his head.

* * *

"This is bad," Beca murmured as she laid in bed while Jesse puked his guts out in the bathroom attached to his bedroom—he was pretty sure he woke her up with his unpleasant vomiting noises. "We shouldn't have done this." She was groaning as he reentered the room.

"Shouldn't have happened. So, let's pretend it never did," she told him as he hopped back in bed.

"Okay," he mumbled, closing his eyes and wishing his hangover away. "You leaving?" he asked when she pushed the covers aside and sat on the edge of the bed, bending to retrieve her clothes from the floor.

"Yeah, dumbass, I'm leaving," she deadpanned. "Aiden could wake up and find me here. How the fuck we gonna explain that?"

"Relax. It's just sex. Not like we committed a crime." His head hurt badly and speaking made it worse. "Besides, it's still early. Why would he wake up so early on a Sunday?"

Jesse didn't hear Beca say anything else after that. He watched her with one eye closed as she finished dressing up then saw her walk out of the room.

* * *

**AN:** Hi, peeps. To those of you that have read the other stuff, I've posted on here, sorry for going AWOL and not updating. Stuff happens, you know? I'll spread you the details.

I named this story that I've had on my laptop for months (also unfinished) after one of Ben Platt's songs from his debut album, the plot doesn't really have anything to do with the song. I've just been listening to his music a lot.

I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. Let me know what you think in a review. Feel free to give me crap for not updating my other stories, we all know I deserve that.


	2. Chapter 2

When he woke up three hours later, Jesse was still suffering from a killer headache—His stomach didn't feel well either.

He shouldn't have had so much to drink the night before going out camping with his son.

His hangover was the worst one yet and Aiden wasn't blind to it.

Determined to bond with his son, Jesse insisted they didn't change their plans.

"There's no reception here," Aiden noted as he looked at his cellphone. "I'm supposed to let mom know we made it safely."

"We'll see if there's reception up that hill," Jesse figured nodding at the nearby hill that he dreaded climbing—he wasn't in his best shape.

"No, you don't understand. Mom will freak out if I don't at least send her a text," Aiden explained.

"Well, what do you suggest we do?" Jesse asked, failing to find a solution himself. "Drive back into the city for reception?"

Aiden stayed quiet for a few seconds before he shook his head.

"That's what I thought," Jesse mumbled as he unfastened his seatbelt. "C'mon, let's set our tents."

The tents took less time than Jesse estimated mainly to how fast Aiden figured the whole thing out and managed to follow the instructions to a T in record time.

The father wasn't of much a help because his mind was too preoccupied: he couldn't stop thinking about Beca and what happened between them less than 24 hours ago.

It wasn't the greatest sex he ever had but it was definitely _something_.

_'__Pretend it never happened,'_ he snorted. '_Like that would ever happen_.'

True, he was drunk…okay, wasted, but he didn't regret it. She made up her mind about what came next and he nodded along because his hungover ass couldn't say anything.

"Dad?" Aiden called snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" He tilted his head to look at him.

"Would this be enough for the night?" the fifteen-year-old asked gesturing at the twigs and branches he had gathered.

"Uh, yeah." Jesse nodded.

He was really impressed with Aiden because the boy hadn't complained once ever since they got there. His bet was that Beca made him promise he'd be on his best behavior.

"Did you find reception up there?" Jesse wondered, nodding at the hill.

"Yep." Aiden placed the twigs and branches near the larger pieces of wood that Jesse collected then straightened up.

"Cool." Jesse held the shovel towards Aiden. "Wanna dig? I've already cleaned the spot."

"Yeah, sure." Aiden accepted the shovel and went on to dig while Jesse went to get tinder from his car in order to start the campfire.

* * *

Having spent most of the day getting settled, they didn't do much talking. It wasn't until nightfall that awkward silence fell. Jesse hated that he had no idea how to get Aiden to give fewer monosyllable answers to his questions.

He struggled to keep a conversation once he ran out of things to ask. Silence meant thinking. And, since Jesse's mind seemed to favor events of the prior night, he went there.

"Hey, Aiden," Jesse called once the inappropriate thoughts in his head got too inappropriate and he had to stop thinking about Beca. "Did your mother ever tell you how she and I met?" he wanted to know.

"You met a frat party," Aiden stated.

"No, that's where we met. Not how we met," Jesse pointed out.

"Then, no, I don't know how you met," Aiden figured.

Jesse grinned because Aiden seemed intrigued. "It was a Friday, I was out to drink the night away," Jesse recalled. "I had too much to drink and was throwing up in a gardening pot when I heard arguing." He paused. "There was really loud music playing, to this day I have no idea how I heard the arguing in the first place. I decided to go see what's up." He sighed. "It was all so blurry but I saw it when your mom sucker punched the dude she was arguing with and he did not like it."

"Did he hurt her?" Aiden questioned.

"I was afraid he would because your mom is five-two and the guy's like a foot taller than her. I walked up to them and tried to play the hero. Mom told me to back off." Beca actually told him to fuck off but he wasn't going to tell Aiden. "She then left."

"What about the dude she punched?"

"He just stood there, holding his cheek."

"Then what happened?" Aiden urged.

"She went into the house where they were throwing the party so I followed her." Jesse shrugged. "I got her a cold beer to ice her hand with. She took it and thanked me. I could tell she was annoyed so I figured I should do something about that. I asked her if she wanted to play beer pong and I offered to do most of the drinking so she wouldn't have to and she agreed." He was surprised that he didn't end up at the hospital that night for the amount of liquor that he consumed.

"Wonder why mom punched that guy," Aiden mumbled to which Jesse shrugged.

"Ask her when you get home."

"I will," Aiden said in response.

* * *

Camping went okay for the most part. There was some progress because Jesse did manage to get Aiden to stop giving curt answers. He was however unsuccessful at getting his mind off of Beca. It was becoming a source of annoyance: he was a grown ass man, why he was hung up was beyond him.

He wondered if it was because she told him that it's a one-time kind of thing. He wondered if it was because he couldn't have her again.

He also wondered why he drove to where she worked. Too late to think of a reason when he was walking to reception and asking for her.

Jesse held his breath when she came down shortly after he spoke to the receptionist. She looked so professional. Her hair in a ponytail, her white shirt tucked into her black skirt, and holy shit did she look hot.

"Hey, is everything okay?" she asked upon reaching him, worried that something was wrong with Aiden.

"Uh, yeah, yeah," he mumbled, still checking her out. "Camping went great." He finally met her gaze and saw confusion.

"Oh, okay… well then what do you want?" she questioned. Yeah, why was he there? He didn't know where to begin. "Dude, spill it out. I have to go back to work."

"When is your break?" he asked.

She was very puzzled as she arched an eyebrow. She then glanced at her watch. "In a couple of hours."

"Okay. I'll be back then. I wanna talk to you about something but I don't wanna keep you from work." He left before she could say anything, cursing himself for how weird he was acting.

* * *

She came out holding her lunch bag and started making her way towards him when she spotted him. He finished was left in his hipflask in one breath and climbed out of the car, regretting the amount of liquor consumed so early in the day.

He hated himself for turning to alcohol so often but shoved that very thought of self-loath to the back of his mind.

"There's this park nearby I spend my break at," she told him, nodding for him to follow her. They walked in silence. Upon reaching the said park, Beca picked a bench. She offered to share her lunch with him as they sat down: He declined.

"So," he sighed, breaking the silence they got in, as she ate her lunch.

She looked up from her tuna rice salad while chewing. "This is about the other night, isn't it?" she guessed when never finished his sentence and just stared at her instead.

"I thought we agreed we're gonna forget that ever happened," she continued when he nodded.

"I can't," he mumbled, rubbing his face. "I can't forget that ever happened. I don't even remember it that well but I can't get my mind off of it… I can't get my mind off of you," he confessed, frowning when she rolled her eyes.

"What do you want, Jesse?" she asked.

"You," he answered, hesitantly reaching to place his hand on her thigh.

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen," she told him as she eyed his hand.

"Um, can I know why?" he questioned.

"Are you seriously asking me that?"

He shrugged, digging his fingers into the fabric of her skirt. "We're both single and like each other." The last part got her snorting.

"I was drunk and so were you."

"You weren't that drunk: you knew very well what you were doing." He was well aware of how bold it was to challenge her like that yet he couldn't resist it.

"I know that I won't be doing that again," she said in annoyance.

"So you're not denying that liquor _has_ nothing to do with your attraction to me." _Very bold._ The glare she shot him was scary but he knew he was right.

When she said nothing in response, he subtly rubbed his hand against her thigh half-expecting her to tell him to knock it.

"Jesse, we can't," she said at last. "_Once_ things go south we won't be able to stay out of each other's' lives. We're stuck in each other's lives for good, man."

"I see your point," he mumbled, withdrawing his hand and running it through his hair. "But we're both adults here and it's just physical."

_'__Is it, though?'_ He heard a voice in his head say and ignored it.

"I don't take risks when Aiden is in the mix."

He threw his head back and groaned, "I can't believe you're using Aiden to keep yourself from having some fun but it's fine I guess."

"Excuse me?"

"When was the last time you had _any _fun?" he asked ignoring her obvious irritation with what he just said. "You got way too uptight for your own good, Becs. This isn't like you."

"You don't know shit about me, so stop acting like you do."

"You need to loosen up a little, Becs, that's all I'm saying."

"And fucking you is your idea of loosening up?" she said, giving him a look of disbelief.

"Hey, come on, we're just talking, don't leave," he said, sobering up a little when she packed what was left of her lunch and got up.

She ignored him and proceeded to walk away.

"Shit," he murmured, jumping after her. "Beca," he called. "Becaw!" He was in a bad shape that it took him a while to catch up. When he did, he reached for her arm to get her to stop. "Would you stop and listen to me for a second?" he panted.

"No, you listen to me." She pulled her arm from his reach. "You're a fucking know-it-all alcoholic selfish asshole and if it weren't for Aiden I wouldn't waste one second of my time with you—" She pushed him away when he shut her up with a kiss. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"It works in movies," he said with a shrug, unfazed with her insults from moments ago. "And you did kiss me back," he pointed out. It was for a half a second but still counted.

"Fuck off!"

"Will you punch me if I don't?" Why he found pissing her off amusing was beyond him.

"I might."

He swallowed not because he felt threatened but because her death glare was such a turn on. "Go ahead. Bring it on, Million Dollar Baby," he grinned.

"Don't test me, Jesse," she warned to which he shrugged.

"Here's the deal, I'm gonna count to ten and if you don't punch me by then I'm gonna kiss you."

"You're such a creep." She rolled her eyes.

"Ten, nine, eight…"

"As annoying as you are right now it's not worth fucking your face up," she admitted while he continued to count. Glancing at her watch, she sighed, "I need to head back to work."

As she turned on her heels, she felt his hand on her arm. He pulled her back, confusing her when he dipped her before he leaned in. "And, one." He expected her to pull away like she did when he previously kissed her but she surprisingly kissed him back and even let him slip some tongue.

When she broke the kiss, she had her hand on his cheek, her thumb rubbing his cheekbone.

He swallowed yet again no longer finding the whole thing amusing—he was pretty sure kissing her sobered him up good—he pulled her up and watched her blow a breath.

He wondered if he should apologize for what he just did but didn't because she didn't seem to mind kissing him.

She murmured something he couldn't hear because he was too consumed in his own thoughts then rubbed the back of his neck as he watched her walk away.

* * *

Jesse knew he fucked up. Big time. He wasn't sure why he had to act like a total dickhead around Beca. He thought it would be funny, he was just messing with her but when he gave it more thought about it he realized how much of an asshole he was for acting the way he did.

He spent the better part of what was left of the day trying to think of how he could apologize. He knew she wouldn't want anything expensive other than that he got nothing. '_I really don't know her,_' he realized.

He racked his brains and thought back at everything he knew about her while trying his hardest not to let his thoughts get perverted which was a struggle.

Jesse had just worn a pair of sweatpants when he heard his doorbell ring. He grabbed a sweatshirt and threw it on, zipping it halfway as he walked down the stairs to get the door.

"Beca," he said in both puzzlement and surprise. "What are you doing here—wait, did you change your mind about punching me in the face?" he asked, pointing at her clenched left hand.

When she rolled her eyes, he took it as a no and stepped back.

"Uh, well come on in," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Hey, so, I'm sorry about earlier." He closed his eyes momentarily.

"I'm sure you are," she murmured, looking around them. "I really don't like you, Swanson," she told him.

"I got that," he said in response.

She's so infuriating and it and he still found it hella hot— It was the disapproving and authoritative tone of her voice.

He lost track of the insults she was spouting his way but came back to reality when he thought he heard her admit that _he's all she'd been thinking about and just wants him out of her head._

"I'm sorry, what was that you just said?"

He was dumbfounded.

"Oh my god," she murmured before looking at her watch. "Look, I only have an hour." She sighed noting his very shocked expression. "Don't just stand there and look at me all weird. It was your idea after all." She shrugged. "You know what? Nevermind." She turned on her heels.

"Wait, wait, wait," he said, snapping out of it.

"So, you're in?" she checked.

"A hundred percent." He rested his hands on her waist and pulled her closer to him.

"Good," she mumbled, cupping his face and leaning up.

* * *

An hour later, they were both lying in bed sweating and out of breath.

Beca got up less than a minute later and started looking around of her clothes.

"Could you stop watching me get dressed? It's kinda creepy," she said as she hooked her bra.

"Sorry," he apologized and made no effort to look away. He watched her pace to the bathroom attached to his bedroom, assuming she was going to check how she looked in the mirror. He thought she looked perfect. When she came back, her hair neatly tied in a ponytail.

"Damn," he murmured, staring still, and earned her attention. "How are you single?"

"There's more to a person than their looks, Jesse," she said.

"Exactly." He sat up. "You're a decent human being judging by how well you've raised Aiden and you're really hot."

"I can't take all the credit for raising Aiden, though, now can I?"

"Please, we both know that you're the one who's doing the actual parenting." He just followed her rules and tried not to fuck up too much when it came to Aiden. Whereas she made all the major calls.

"I don't have time to date," she told him.

"You can make time if you really want to."

"Well, then I don't want to make time for some dude who'd either end up acting like I'm his mom or like he's Aiden's stepdad."

"What kind of men do you attract?" He frowned.

"Assholes," she told him, meeting his gaze, a small smile on her lips.

The way she said it while smiling made it feel less insulting and more endearing.

She smoothed down her shirt. "This was _interesting_."

"Very," he agreed.

"But this is it, Jesse. And, I mean it this time."

"Yup." He'd very much love to hook up again but she made the calls.

Also, why on earth couldn't he form actual sentences when she's looking him in the eyes.

She nodded curtly before turning on her heels.

He blew a breath watching her disappear into the hallway then ran a hand through his hair.

* * *

**AN:** Thank you so much for your feedback. You're so nice, it too wholesome darn it!

I hope you like this chapter and I look forward to reading what you thought of it.


	3. Chapter 3

Jesse had a tiny hope that Beca would be at his doorstep whenever he heard a knock. She never came back. He, in fact, hadn't seen her in almost two weeks.

And when he did see her, it was where he least expected to find her at.

"Do my eyes deceive me or is Beca Mitchell at a singles mixer?" he asked, walking up to her and grinning when she rolled her eyes.

"Seriously how did you end up here?" he questioned, faking a worried tone. "Did you lose a bet or something?"

She held his gaze for half a second before scanning the room. While she ignored he was even there, Jesse checked her out. She didn't exactly dress up for the occasion—neither did he for that matter but he had his reasons—Skinny dark jeans that flattered her small physique paired with a loose-fitting gray t-shirt.

He eyed the tattoos on her arms, stopping at the newest addition that was the small triangle. A triangle she refused to explain its meaning.

"So, met any interesting people?" he wondered.

If she didn't want his company she'd tell him and then he'd changed her mind because persistence is one of his best qualities.

She shrugged.

Wordless answer but still an answer.

"It's my first time at a singles mixer," he shared with her.

"Aren't you too famous to be here?" she mumbled, sipping her beer.

"Eh, people might recognize my name but I don't think they know what I look like. And, I'm not here to socialize anyway. Bumper dragged me," he sighed. "You remember Bumper, right?" he checked.

"He's the moron that scarred Aiden. Of course, I remember him."

He grimaced a little at the memory of the time Bumper lit up fireworks indoor while six-year-old Aiden napped. It took Beca few years to let Jesse have Aiden over for the fourth of July.

Jesse frowned when Beca looked down at her watch then let out a breath.

"You really don't want to be here," he figured.

"You're not the only one who has opinions on my love life," she grumbled. "Chloe insisted I'd come here and sent Amy with me to make sure I actually come and stay for at least an hour."

"Speaking of opinions." He paused to clear his throat. "Does Aiden share those you have of me?"

"No," she answered. "Dude, he loves you."

"I find that very hard to believe," he murmured, bringing his glass of whiskey to his lips.

"Aiden just doesn't like seeing you." She paused briefly. _"_Wallowing in self-pity_,_" she uneasily said. "You let work get to you," she continued while running her finger around the rim of the beer she was holding. "So what your project tanked. Not the end of the world or your career." She shrugged as she met his gaze.

"I'd like to hear you say that after fucking up three times in a row," he said, his tone although light carried bitterness.

She let out a humorless chuckle. "I've singlehandedly managed to turn everything into my own personal hell and I never felt sorry for myself. Shit happens. You learn your lesson and you move on."

"And by move on you mean I should take a page out of your book and change careers?" he deadpanned and regretted his words once he saw the way the expression on her face went from irritation to upset for half a second before she replaced it with a blank expression.

"Fucking dickhead." He heard her murmur as she shook her head.

"No, wait. I'm sorry," he was quick to apologize, placing a hand on her arm to keep her from walking away. "I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to upset you. It came out of my mouth before I thought about it."

"I'm not upset," she mumbled.

"Yes, you are. And, it's my fault." He sighed. "You don't want to be here and I'm making it worse by bringing up stuff that shouldn't be brought up at a freaking singles mixer. Tell me how can I make it up to you?" He dropped his hand when she kept looking at it.

"It's fine, dude," she sighed. "I don't mind talking about _stuff._"

"Yeah, you do," he smiled at her. "You're only semi-comfortable with five-minute small talk with me. And I wouldn't be surprised if that time shrinks down."

"That's not true," she denied. "I just don't want to get into things that are touchy because I don't think it's my place. It's what close friends and therapists are for," she said, neglecting the part where _he_ brought up a touchy subject of hers.

"My friends never called me out like you just did."

"Then you should get new friends."

"I'm trying to make a new friend." He grinned at her. "And I think we're getting somewhere," he sarcastically noted to which she rolled her eyes. "Get in here, Mitchell." He shouldn't enjoy annoying her so much but she was such an easy target. "There you go." He patted her back, hugging her when she allowed it.

"I'm gonna get you another drink," he told her, noting that she had finished her beer.

Once they finished their drinks again, he went and got them a round of shots. He was surprised Beca agreed to shots. She then told him that liquor made him less annoying. Slightly drunk, he talked her into going up to strangers and taking their numbers. She only agreed to do it because he challenged her thus he learned that Beca Mitchell's competitive.

The night took an unexpected _fun_ turn.

"You sure you're good to drive?" Jesse asked as they walked (read: stumbled) towards the parking lot.

"Eh, yeah." She shrugged, dialing Amy's number to see where her friend went. "Night, Swanson," she said, heading towards her car.

"Night," Jesse replied while looking around the parking lot for his car.

"Everything okay?" Beca asked, noting that Jesse was standing in the middle of the parking lot as she opened the door of her car.

"I just remembered that I carpooled with Bumper," he chuckled and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't see Bumper's car which can only mean he left."

"He left and didn't think to let you know?"

"It's fine. I'll get a taxi home," he figured, pausing for a beat. "You should, too. You had a lot to drink, Beca," he slurred, walking towards her. "Let's see if you can pass the sobriety test." He watched her put her bag in the car and despite his blurry vision checked her out for the nth time. She had a cute butt.

He grinned when she turned around to face him. "Come on, humor me."

"Fine," she sighed.

"Let's do walk and talk test," he said, clapping his hands together.

"Don't you mean walk and _turn?_"

"Yep. That one. Since you know the name I'm gonna assume you know how it goes?"

"Yeah."

"Then go ahead, Beca. My odds ever be in your favor." He watched her walk to the middle of the currently empty parking lot.

"Okay," she let out a breath.

"And, she miserably fails," he laughed when she couldn't pass the test.

"This is your fault," she grumbled, walking back to the car to grab her bag.

"How is this my fault? I didn't force you to drink too much."

"You bought the liquor. It would be a shame not to drink it. And you can only drink so much."

"Oh, you'd be surprised by how well I can hold my liquor."

"Are you seriously bragging about your liquor problem?" She locked her car once she had her bag.

He laughed in response. "Those tiny pizza bites weren't enough," he said, referring to what to the food served at the singles mixer. "I'm gonna go get actual food and you're welcome to join me."

"What are you having?" she asked, tempted.

"A greasy burger," he answered. "With a lot of French fries from that McDonald's restaurant down the street." He pointed in the direction of the fast food restaurant.

"Lead the way," she said accepting his offer.

"Did Amy leave early?" he wondered as they stumbled out of the parking lot.

"She's not inside and she's not picking up. She's either kidnapped or busy screwing someone's brains out to pick up the phone."

"My money is on the latter," he told her, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Same."

He snorted at her deadpan tone.

* * *

"I can't remember the last time I ate at McDonald's," Beca sighed, eyeing the double cheeseburger she ordered.

"Why?" he frowned, bringing his big mac burger to his mouth.

"I make Aiden eat a fuck ton of greens: I can't exactly preach to him about eating healthy then go and devour a fucking cheeseburger from McDonald's of all places," she reasoned.

"The sacrifices us parents make, am I right?"

"Yeah." She took a huge bite and moaned. "Oh, this is really good."

While she devoured the burger, he watched her. "I'm glad I got to see it myself otherwise I would assume this is how you sound having sex," he noted.

She was too busy enjoying her late night meal to respond so she settled for simply flipping him off as she stuffed her mouth with French fries.

"Aiden is into sports and likes eating healthy. You don't have to deprive yourself of food you like."

"I can't really complain about my diet. It is healthy." She shrugged.

"Yeah, but at what cost? You only live once so live a little."

"Deep," she deadpanned. "Are you gonna put that in your next movie?"

"No," he chuckled humorlessly. "I mean I doubt anyone would give me money to make a movie anymore so…" he trailed off, sobering up for a second.

She frowned at the breath he let out. "Is it _that _bad?"

"You have no idea." He scratched his head.

"You can still do something yourself, it doesn't have to be a big production company behind your project."

"Thing is," he began to say after a long pause. "I'm not sure there will be a next time backed by a big production company or independent."

"You're retiring?"

"I'm burned out," he admitted, looking away from her and at the table.

"Then take a break, don't just call it quits." He heard her say as he intensely stared at the table. "I watched your stuff, you know? Even _your latest_."

"I'm sorry you had to sit through them," he chuckled, looking up.

"They weren't _that bad_."

"Yes, they were," he disagreed, clenching his fist as well as jaw. "Horrible mess and a waste of money and time."

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, placing a hand on his fist and rubbed her thumb against his knuckles.

"Do you regret giving up music?" he quietly asked.

"Sometimes," came her answer. There was a lot of anguish in her voice and despite his drunken state, he knew a change of subject was in order.

He shifted his gaze to look at her hand and smiled a little, "you have really small hands."

"You're realizing that now?" she questioned, pulling her hand away, and resumed eating. "Great observation skills, Swanson."

He shrugged and reached for her hand to take it in his. "No, I noticed some time ago but we were preoccupied," he casually said.

"What, did it boost your ego a little when I had my hand around your dick?" she joked.

"_Very_ funny." He grabbed a fry and tossed it in his mouth, surprised she hadn't pulled her hand away from his. "And to answer your question, no. I'm very confident about my package."

"Of course you are." She rolled her eyes.

"However, the noises that came out of you _did_ boost my ego," he told her. "It's always great to have a singer in bed." He knew she had a lovely singing voice that he only heard when she'd sing Happy Birthday to Aiden on his birthday.

"Don't flatter yourself. It's just that I haven't been getting any for a while."

"Not surprising."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she questioned defensively.

"You know what? Never mind. This is going well and if we keep talking about sex I will eventually start to vomit all the wrong things and piss you off."

"No, no, I wanna know what you mean. I won't give you shit for it. Lay it on me, man." She gestured for him to talk while holding the burger in her hand.

"Beca, you're not very approachable. Back at the mixer whenever I went to get us refills I'd wait and watch if a dude would come to talk to you which happened every time. And every time, you'd find a way to scare their dicks off." He paused to swallow the fry in his mouth. "I personally find your whole deal very hot but a lot of people don't share my opinion."

"I turned them down because I wasn't interested."

"You went and got like four guys' numbers," he stated.

"Because you dared me. It's not like I'm gonna call them."

"Fair enough." He nodded, shifting his attention to the fries.

"So, my friends forced me to stay at the mixer. If you're not there to meet people, why did you stay?"

"Bumper's my ride and he wanted to make a stop." He shrugged. "I've never been to a singles' mixer and I had nothing better to do."

What actually happened was that Bumper spilled coffee on himself while driving and had to clean up, the bar was the closest place with a washroom so they went there. Once inside Bumper decided to stay and mingle while Jesse planned to head out but changed his mind when he found her there.

"You have such a boring life if you have nothing better to do that go to a singles' mixer."

"My life is not boring." He frowned.

"I think it is. Dude, you're a filmmaker, your peers are snorting cocaine off of butts at Hollywood after-parties."

"Wow," he laughed. "Who told you this is how it's like at Hollywood after-parties?"

"Someone who had another person snort coke of off her butt," she answered. "Stacie."

"Using Stacie as an example is not fair."

"She knows how to party."

"Your friend is insane," he noted.

"That's something a boring person would say," she shrugged.

"I can't win with you, can I?" he chuckle.

* * *

They decided to share a taxi together figuring the driver would drop Beca off first then take Jesse to his place.

"If you're gonna throw up the driver can pull over." Jesse sat up when Beca buried her face inside her bag.

"I'm just looking for something," she mumbled. "Found 'em." She looked up. "Want a mint?" she wondered.

"Uh. Yeah." He nodded and popped the candy in his mouth when she handed it to him. "What do you even carry around in your bag?" he asked, trying to peek. "It's like Hermione's beaded handbag isn't it?"

"Whose and what now?"

"You've got to _at least_ watch the movies, Beca. It's unacceptable that you don't know Harry Potter."

She rolled her eyes in response. "I've genuinely had fun tonight. Do not ruin it by monologuing about your weird obsession with some wizard boy."

"Aw, you had fun?" He placed a hand on her thigh and squeezed it. "I thought you didn't even know what fun is."

"Stop talking, dude." She placed a hand over his mouth to shut him up herself and could feel him smile against her palm.

She drew her hand away feeling uneasy about the dreamy way he looked at her and looked out of the window instead.

He squeezed her thigh yet again as if to get her to look back and she did then leaned in and kissed her, cupping her cheek when she kissed him back.

They couldn't exactly hookup in the backseat of a taxi but it didn't stop them from sharing small yet needy kisses. He was running his fingers through her hair when he felt her stroke him over his pants. She was going to leave him high and dry but he couldn't bring himself to still her hand. Instead, he stole as many kisses as possible.

When the taxi driver pulled over in front of her apartment complex, Jesse sighed. It was great while it lasted, _whatever _it was they just engaged in.

However, Beca seemed to have different plans because she was tugging at his shirt when she opened the taxi's door. He followed her out without asking any questions and wrapped his arms around her the moment they were both standing on the sidewalk, kissing her hard.

"What about Aiden?" he asked when she pulled away and grabbed him by the arm, walking him with her.

"He's spending the night at Chloe's," she sighed. "She promised to take him surfing tomorrow—well, promised Derek would take him surfing tomorrow so he'd spend the night over 'cause they have to go to the beach super early and it'll be easier if Aiden just spent the night."

"Surfing. That sounds cool…" he trailed off. "Who's Derek?" he asked.

"Chicago's brother." She stopped to look for her keys inside her bag and unlock the door.

"It's broken," she announced when he walked straight to the elevator.

By the time they made it to her apartment, which was on the fourth floor, Jesse was panting.

"You okay there, man?" Beca asked when he placed his hands on his knees.

"Yeah, yeah, just catching my breath." He stood up when she unlocked the door and followed her inside.

* * *

When he woke up the next day he was alone in bed. With an extreme amount of effort, he pulled himself out of bed and got dressed before leaving the bedroom.

Beca was leaning against the kitchen counter, staring at the floor.

Jesse cleared his throat when she failed to notice his presence and turned to fill herself a mug of coffee.

"Morning," he said when she tilted her head to look at him.

"Good morning," she replied. "Want some coffee?"

"Yeah, sure." He helped himself with a mug from the cupboard. "Eh, do you have some painkillers?" His head was killing him.

She nodded at the yellow pill container that he didn't see on the kitchen counter.

"Sugar?" she mumbled.

"No," he said as he took a couple of pills.

"Thanks." He took the mug from her and brought it to his lips.

"Last night was great and I don't just mean the part where we had sex," he said, breaking the silence. "I had fun just hanging out with you."

"Me, too." He already knew that because if his memory served him right he tried to make a joke when she told him.

"This can't keep happening, Jesse," she was staring at her mug of coffee as she spoke.

"Why?"

"It won't end well."

"You don't know that."

"I actually do. I'm fairly confident about it."

"If this is about Aiden, I'm sure he'll understand if we explained to him."

She shook her head, looking up from the mug. "No. We're definitely not going to tell him." She frowned when he rolled his eyes. "I need you to promise me that you won't tell him," she sharply said.

"Fine." He sighed. "I won't tell him that his parents can't keep their hands off each other and basically went on an unplanned date that went so well they spent the night together."

"That's hardly what happened last night," she grumbled.

"Oh, please do and let me know what really happened last night?" he sarcastically said. "I mean I was there but please I'd love to hear your take."

"We got drunk and had burgers for fucks sake. In what world does that count for a date?"

"In my world." He wasn't exactly mad at her but he was extremely frustrated. "You know what? We'll pretend nothing happened. We'll pretend there's nothing _happening._"

"There's nothing _happening_," she insisted.

"Sure," he snorted. "You just keep telling yourself that." He inhaled deeply to calm himself down. "It's fine, though. I get it. I'm an insufferable asshole and I don't deserve you anyway," he said and turned on his heels before she could say anything. He needed to get out of there before they truly had a fight. He secretly hoped she'd go after him but wasn't surprised that she didn't.

* * *

**AN:** I hope this chapter answered some of your questions and was entertaining enough.


	4. Chapter 4

Neither one of them tried to talk to the other since that morning at her place. It wasn't out of the ordinary so no one really noticed that they weren't speaking to each other.

It wasn't until he went to watch Aiden surf (he was pretty great at it in case you were wondering) almost two weeks later and Chloe invited him to her 4th of July party that they had to socialize.

_Why Chloe would invite him to her party, you might ask._

Well, Chloe was also at the beach that very day with her family. And, over the years she had been nothing but warm and nice. It really baffled him that she and Beca were best friends given their polar opposite personalities.

He would have declined the invitation because it was only out of politeness that Chloe asked him but when she insisted he agreed, figuring he'd drop by for half an hour or something then head out.

Jesse tried not to start anything with _her _and mind his business. But it was really hard when he overheard her and Derek, Chicago's brother, flirt.

"He's trying really hard to impress you," he couldn't help but snarl when Derek finally left Beca alone for a minute.

Nope, he definitely wasn't jealous of the man that probably did modeling on the side—he was gorgeous.

"It's cute." He brought his beer to his lips. "Can't wait to see his face when you turn him down."

"What makes you think that I'd turn him down?" she questioned and he definitely didn't choke on his drink.

"Bet all that muscle is to compensate for his micropenis," he said after clearing his throat.

"I'll update you on that."

"Can't wait," he deadpanned, hating the amusement he could hear in her voice.

He watched her sit down on the edge of the pool while calling for Aiden who was swimming. "Don't roll your eyes at me, skin cancer is no joke," Beca was saying to Aiden as she opened the sunscreen tube planning to put some of it on his face and shoulders.

"Fine." He pulled himself up and sat next to her on the edge. "Seriously?" Aiden sighed when Beca took off the cap she was wearing and put it on his head instead.

"You're out in the sun an awful lot," she reasoned, patting his cheek. "Honestly, I'd rather you wear a t-shirt from now on when you go to the beach." She didn't think he'd like surfing so much, make a hobby out of it, and consequently frequent the beach so often.

"Please don't make me wear a t-shirt to the beach," he pleaded.

"I won't," she smiled at his worried expression. "As long as you wear enough sunscreen." She rubbed sunscreen on his back when he turned around. "Off you go, merman."

"You're not gonna swim?" Aiden wondered.

"No." She shook her head and watched him slide into the pool before she stood up.

Jesse was about to look away from the two when he saw Derek slowly make his way to Beca. _'Oh, no.' _He could tell what Derek was up to. _Idiot. _Derek very easily picked Beca up and jumped into the pool before she could object.

Beca wouldn't let him live another day, Jesse was sure of that, judging by the death glare she shot him before she laughed—wait, what?

_What the hell is happening?_ Jesse wondered as he watched Beca throw a punch that landed on Derek's chest.

Nope, he was totally not jealous. His blood was boiling because it was really hot.

Jesse looked away from the pool but couldn't help but steal some glances when Beca got out of the pool, her wet t-shirt sticking to her torso making it hard to breathe somehow.

He needed to get a grip on himself.

"Where's the bathroom?" he asked Chicago, needing a minute alone to cool down.

"Right at the end of the hall," Chicago answered oblivious to Jesse's discomfort.

"Thanks." He hurried inside the house, blowing a breath once he was in the bathroom.

Jesse cursed eyeing his reflection in the mirror before washing his face. He was patting his face with the towel when he heard a knock on the door. He unlocked the door and it was none other than Beca Mitchell.

She changed from her wet clothes and was wearing what he assumed were Chloe's t-shirt and shorts.

He let her through and against his better judgement stayed in the bathroom.

"Seriously?" she sighed.

He nodded.

"Jesse, please leave."

"No, not until we talk," he said in determination that he didn't know he had.

"We have nothing to talk about." She crossed her arms across her chest.

"Okay, fine. Then just listen to me talk." He shrugged. "You're a coward, you know that?" He could see the way his words made her clench her jaw, he was hoping she'd say something back but she didn't. "You keep denying there's anything going on because you're a coward who won't take a fucking chance."

"Are you done?" she asked when he paused, hoping yet again that he'd get a reaction by calling her out.

"No. No, I'm not done. I won't be done until you see how stupid it is to deny this." He gestured between them.

"Oh my god," she murmured. "You're so delusional it's insane," she told him.

"I'm delusional?" He stepped forward and clocked the frown that formed on her forehead.

"Yes. Good sex doesn't mean we'd make a good couple. Stop thinking with your dick and you'll get it, moron," she said in a very stoic voice. "Now _please_ leave," she added.

Jesse couldn't fathom why she was so stubborn. Somehow her refusal made him want her even more. He felt unworthy but still wanted her and it made him want to fight for her. Fighting with her wouldn't get him anywhere so he reached for the doorknob and did what she asked him to do.

* * *

"Could you pass me the ketchup?" He heard Beca say and held the ketchup her way without looking at her. He then watched her out of the corner of his eyes as she handed Aiden the burger she made him and found himself thinking of the night they had burgers at McDonald's.

"Aiden, finish eating first," Beca said to Aiden who joined Derek, _of course_, who displaying his soccer skills to his brother's kids in an attempt to entertain them.

"Okay," Aiden replied.

"What's that move called? How-to-break-your-back?" Jesse joked, watching Derek do a bicycle kick.

"Yeah, that doesn't look very safe," Beca agreed as Derek laughed, pulling himself up. "Which you know what that means," she added, addressing Aiden.

"Wasn't gonna try it," he assured her.

Jesse had no interest in soccer so he just watched from a distance Chicago join Derek play with the kids until the tree house in the backyard caught his attention.

"Chicago just finished building it, do you like it?" he heard Chloe say as she stopped beside him. "Well, I think it's finished. He insists there's still more to do."

"It looks lovely," Jesse smiled at the redhead.

"You must be wondering why we'd build a tree house for the kids when our eldest isn't even five yet," she chuckled.

No, actually, it didn't cross his mind.

"They like the outdoors?" he guessed.

"Beck is an extrovert… I think. Oliver and Isla not so much but that's probably because they just learned how to walk."

"I don't know if I had mentioned this before but I think it's really adorable that you named your eldest after your best friend _kinda,_" Jesse noted.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed. "Beca thought I was kidding when I told her I was gonna name my first baby after her. She's his godmother might as well just name him after her, right?"

"Yeah," Jesse let out a small laugh then frowned when the smile Chloe had faded and was replaced by a horrified look. He didn't get to hear what she said because the next thing he knew he was on the floor unconscious.

He was pretty confused when he woke up. Confused and super dizzy. His vision was a blur.

"Jesse, are you okay?" The voice was very distant but it definitely belonged to Beca.

_Was he okay?_ He didn't know. He also didn't know why he was throwing up.

Jesse wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and leaned against his chair. He could feel himself slip into unconsciousness again.

"Jesse, stay with us," Beca said, helping him into a sitting position and holding his shoulder with one hand while she cupped his face with the other.

"I'm awake," he mumbled.

"Yeah?"

"Yep." He tried to nod. "I'm fine."

"I'm really sorry man," Derek apologized for hitting him with the ball in the head.

"Don't worry about it." Jesse waved it off accepting the icepack Chicago handed him.

"I'm gonna take you get your head checked," Beca decided, helping him place the icepack on his head when he failed to do it himself.

"No." Jesse tried to stand up and had to grip the chair feeling dizzy.

"Help me get him to the car," Beca sighed, addressing Chicago who nodded.

* * *

The blow he received caused a concussion. The doctor ordered brain scans just to be safe and Jesse went through them without voicing his opinion of how unnecessary they were simply because Beca wanted them done and he didn't want to piss her off.

Aiden who tagged along and was currently sitting next to his mother facing the bed on which Jesse sat.

"Could you go get me a cup of coffee?" Beca quietly asked, breaking the silence in the room.

"Uh, yeah. Sure." Aiden nodded. "Dad, do you want anything?"

"No, I'm good." Jesse smiled in spite of the throbbing pain coming from his skull paired with nausea.

"Here." Beca handed Aiden some cash. "Get yourself something if you want." She rubbed his arm then watched him get up.

She was up on her feet as well and walking around the room struggling to stay composed.

It really was endearing how worried she was that he couldn't believe it: he got used to her being so stoic.

"So, are you gonna go out with Derek?" he asked.

"Seriously?" she sighed. "That's what you wanna talk about right now?" she questioned in disbelief.

He shrugged.

"Well, it's none of your business so we're not gonna talk about it," she said.

"You should make sure he doesn't have a small dick before you get into anything with him," he advised. "That pickup truck of his plus the amount of muscle he has..." he blew a breath. "Classic compensating methods."

"You're impossible, Jesse, you know that?"

"I'm just looking out for you, Beca," he said in amusement and watched her crack a small smile. "You deserve to be with a guy that has a pretty decent dick."

"Like you?" she snorted.

"You made it clear that it's not enough for you to consider dating me but it's a start."

They both tilted their heads when Aiden came into the room. "Thank you," she smiled at him accepting the cup of coffee.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," the doctor said stepping into the room, holding a report of what Jesse assumed were his MRI scan results, in her hand.

"Fourth of July is a busy time for hospitals, we understand," Jesse said in response.

"Yeah." The doctor held his gaze briefly before looking down at the report.

Beca tightened her hold of the cup in her hand, clocking the uneasily look the doctor had on her face before she glanced at Aiden.

"Mr. Swanson, can I speak with you in private?" The doctor made it seem like a question but it was very clear that it was more a statement.

"Sure," Jesse slowly said, tilting his head to look at Beca.

"Come on, Aiden," Beca mumbled, taking Aiden's hand in hers and walking him with her. "We'll be in the hall," she said to no one in particular.

"Mom, what's going on?" Aiden asked, his voice quivering slightly with worry.

"I don't know," she replied.

She assumed that the reason the doctor kindly asked them to leave was the results that were definitely bad and she didn't have the heart to break the news in front of Aiden.

_And_ she was right to assume that being the case.

She left Aiden with his dad in the room and followed the doctor to get more information out of her because Jesse was in a bit of a shock.

"What kind of tumor is it?" She could tell from Jesse's reaction that it was cancerous but she still wanted specifics.

Beca barely registered any of the information the doctor gave her other than the fact that it was really bad and an impromptu surgery was in order.

* * *

They didn't talk about it on the way to his place.

They just sat quietly, each lost in their own thoughts, wrapping their minds around it.

"Have you googled it?" Jesse asked, surprised Beca stuck around and didn't just drop him off and leave.

"No, have you?" she asked back, glancing up when he pulled a chair and sat down facing her as she fixed them dinner.

"Nope." He ran his fingers through his wet hair. "Where's Aiden?"

"In the shower," she answered.

He nodded before resting his elbow on the table and cheek against the palm of his hand and completely zoned out.

"Derek is gay," she blurted out randomly.

"Huh. I can die a happy now," he tried to joke.

"Don't say that. You're not dying."

"I actually am. And it's fine I guess. Both my parents died of cancer. Makes sense, you know?" He shrugged. "You should get Aiden tested to see if he inherited…what are they called? Mutations?" He paused. "Whatever their name is, you should get Aiden checked. I mean you take great care of him: make sure he eats well and practices sports." He sighed. "These things lower risk factors." He was busy rambling, he didn't even realize Beca had stopped making dinner and was hugging him from behind.

"I'm really sorry, Jesse," she mumbled, tightly wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

He patted her arm and leaned into her embrace, closing his eyes as he felt her place a peck on his head.

"Why was he all over you, if he's gay?" he asked, ruining the moment.

"You'd be surprised by how much gay dudes like me, it's not just him," she sighed, rubbing his arms before she walked back to the kitchen island and resumed cooking.

"That's weird."

"Half of the time they end up asking if I'd have their babies."

"Wow."

"Best part is that they somehow expect me to jump on it."

"Did Derek ask you—"

"—No," she answered before he could finish his question. "I guess I knew it'll make you uncomfortable if I got _too _friendly with him and hoped that you'd leave."

"That's just mean," he said in response. "You could have asked me to leave instead of torturing me like that."

"You wouldn't have left if I asked you."

"Yeah, you're right," he smiled in spite of himself then tilted his head hearing Aiden walk in. He tried to keep a smile on his face even though it broke his heart to see Aiden in so much pain.

He might be feeling hopeless but he sure as hell was going to, at least, pretend to be optimistic in front of the fifteen-year-old who clearly spent some time crying in the shower.

* * *

Numb was the word he'd use if asked how he was feeling on the day of the surgery. Very numb that is. Aiden had been staying with him since July 4 and it had barely been a week. (It was crucial to get the surgery done as soon as possible, or so said the doctor—he didn't really pay much attention to the details of the procedure and just agreed to it because he trusted the doctor to make the right call.)

He tried to make the most of the week he had with Aiden and tried his best not to make it seem like a goodbye although it sure felt like it.

Beca was around, too. She didn't spend the night like Aiden but she checked in every day and did her best in the current circumstances.

She even drove him to the hospital because to make matters even more depressing he didn't _really _have anyone apart from Aiden.

"Where is he?" Jesse asked, noting the absence of Aiden when Beca stepped into his hospital room alone.

"Trying to get it together in the restroom," she told him. "He'll be here before you go into surgery," she added.

"He better. I have a couple of killer dad jokes for him to remember me with."

"Don't say that," she mumbled, crossing her arms across her chest and looking away from him.

"What are you thinking about?" he couldn't help but ask when she zoned out as she stared out of the window. She was extremely hard to read and this past week was no difference.

"I've been feeling drained and tired all the time recently," she began saying.

"You coming down with something?" he puzzled when she paused.

"Not exactly," she chuckled humorlessly and walked over to him. "I considered waiting until you've had your surgery to tell you but since you might—"

"Die," he finished for her. "Is it what I think it is?" he asked, arching an eyebrow, when she ran a hand through her hair.

She nodded meeting his gaze, sporting the saddest smile he had yet to see and making the numbness he was feeling vanish and get replaced with guilt. A fuck ton of guilt.

"I'm really sorry, Beca," he apologized. "If you keep it tell him or her that I'm really sorry for screwing them over before they're even born. I'm really sorry that you won't have much to tell them when they ask about me."

"You have nothing to apologize for," she mumbled and cleared her throat, glancing at her watch. "I'm gonna go get Aiden."

"Wait." He reached for her hand. "Before you go. I know the timing is really shitty and all, but I'm dying so what the hell." He shrugged. "I regret not trying to change your mind about us when I had the chance all these years ago."

She knew exactly what he was talking about so he didn't see the need to elaborate.

"You're worth the fight, Beca." He squeezed her hand.

They both tilted their heads when Aiden walked into the room.

Beca got up, leaving her spot on the bed for Aiden. And, as the father and son talked she left the room.

If Jesse didn't know better, he'd say she left because she didn't want him to see her cry.

* * *

Jesse had a hard time focusing on his surroundings when he woke up.

It was quite hazy and super confusing.

_Like, why was he at a hospital?_

Two people were in the room and one of them was asleep.

He tried to say something but it was very exhausting to speak yet the person awake noticed him and came rushing to his side.

"Welcome back." Her voice felt familiar but he couldn't put his finger on it and having a blurred vision made matters even worse.

It was quite frustrating.

"It's okay," she gently said, her fingers brushing over his. "We're here." He watched her reach over and push what he assumed was a nurse call button.

"Hi," he finally said, blinking in an attempt to focus his vision.

"Hi, you feeling okay?" she asked.

"My head hurts." His speech wasn't exactly slurred but he knew he didn't sound sober either.

"Well, that's understandable."

"Why?"

"You had brain surgery," she answered, sounding puzzled. "Do you not remember that?"

He shook his head slightly.

"Okay," she said in response, quite pensively. "What's the last thing you remember?" she asked. "Jesse?" she called, her hand now caressing his cheek extra carefully when he didn't reply.

His vision got better so he finally had a face to the voice. A face he didn't recognize.


	5. Chapter 5

Jesse knew he shouldn't feel guilty, yet he did. It wasn't within his power nor could he change the fact he couldn't remember anything from the past 18 years of his life but every time he saw the hurt look on Aiden's face he felt so guilty.

It was clear to Jesse that the boy was trying his best to keep it together in front of him. He wanted to make it up to him and he promised himself he _would_ as soon as he was allowed to leave the hospital.

He knew he should be grateful he was alive because having talked to the doctor in charge of his case he knew he really lucked out and he _was _grateful. It's just that the whole memory loss thing was frustrating. It wasn't just a couple of years of his life that he couldn't remember. The void in his memory was hurting his son and it pained him.

He spent over a month doing nothing but sleeping and eating after he was discharged from the hospital. Once he was healthy enough, Jesse spent most of his days looking through albums and watching home videos, hoping it would jog his memory. And, when he wasn't doing that, he'd be hanging out with Aiden.

He'd hang out with friends too but giving the fact that no one apart from Aiden and Beca were around while he was in the hospital he figured that he didn't have any, which he'll admit was pretty damn weird for a grown adult.

He received get well soon cards and texts from people who seemed to be nothing more than acquaintances and that was about it.

The friends he remembered, from the brief online stalking he did, he wasn't friends with anymore.

As for family members, he learned that both of his parents lost the battle to cancer: his father ten years ago and his mother only a couple of years ago. And, he was an only child (which he remembered.)

He basically had no one apart from Aiden. Jesse liked to think that Beca was a friend since she was the first person he saw when he opened his eyes despite the fact she told him that they weren't friends. He actually thought she was more than a friend and was slightly disappointed that they were in each other's lives solely because of Aiden.

Jesse was going through an album as he waited for the tea to cool down to finish making his iced tea when he heard the doorbell.

"Hi," Jesse greeted unlocking the front door.

"Hey," Beca smiled curtly at him.

"You're a little early," he noted.

"Yeah, I didn't want to get stuck in traffic," she explained.

He nodded, stepping back to let her in. "I was making iced tea when you rang the bell, want some?"

"Uh, I try to keep caffeine out of my diet."

"Well, you're in luck. It's decaffeinated tea."

"Then I'd love to have some."

He nodded and made his way to the kitchen, placing the album on the kitchen island before he resumed his iced tea making.

"You look a little tired. Tough day at work?"

"Yeah," she let out a breath.

"I'm sorry you're stuck doing this for me," he sighed.

"It's no big deal." She shrugged, taking a seat on a stool and placing her bag on the kitchen island.

"No, it is. You should be at home resting after spending your day making a living. And, I could've just gotten a taxi. You had to get off work early to come here. You also took time to come over when I couldn't get out of bed. I should have hired nurse or something. I should have done that as soon as I was discharged from the hospital." He shook his head, hating that he didn't think of that earlier despite knowing that he couldn't have given how rough recovery was.

"Jesse, it's fine. I don't mind taking you to your appointment," she assured him. "We have a fifteen-year-old, this is nothing."

It was anything but _nothing_.

She a full-time job yet somehow she managed to be there for him, checking in on him and making sure he was fed and comfortable.

"Still. Thank you," he earnestly said, meeting her gaze.

"Don't worry about it," she said before looking around. "Aiden isn't home yet?" she asked.

"He texted me that he's gonna be running a little late," he informed and watched her nod. "It sucks not have him over, huh?" he guessed.

"It's fine," she said in response. "You two need to spend time together," she said and he felt like it was more to her than to him. "Thanks." She accepted the glass of iced tea he poured her.

He smiled at her and watched her bring the drink to her lips. "I'll be back in a minute," he then said and left the kitchen.

"I don't know how much I usually give you in child support… if it's not enough, please tell me," Jesse was saying as he placed a cheque on the kitchen island when he came back.

Beca merely glanced at the cheque before she slid his way. "Don't need it."

"What do you mean you don't need it?" he puzzled. "You have full custody of Aiden, Beca."

"That doesn't mean you owe me any money."

"I know I don't _owe_ any money. This is yours. Take it." He slid the cheque in front of her again.

Beca shook her head. "Iced tea is great," she said changing the subject. "We should head out," she added, looking at the time on her watch. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Let me just go get keys and wallet."

"I'll wait in the car." She grabbed her bag and walked past him.

"So, I'm not allowed to spend money you and Aiden?" he asked, buckling his seatbelt.

She rolled her eyes, starting the car. "A, why would you spend money on _me_? B, of course, you can spend money on Aiden he's your kid too, reasonably I might add—don't spoil him."

"But no child support," he checked.

"No child support." She nodded then tilted her head feeling his gaze. "Nothing personal, we just don't need it."

"Alright, weirdo," he finally said.

* * *

"You okay?" Jesse asked, noting the sweat forming on Beca's forehead as they sat in the waiting room at the hospital.

"Yeah," she curtly answered.

"We're at the hospital, you sure you don't need medical attention?" She looked pale and not her usual pale, _sick pale._

"I'm fine," she insisted.

He frowned when she brought her hand to her mouth, covering it.

A second later, she got up and paced in the direction of the closest restroom. He followed her, walking at a slower pace because walking fast was risky for his brain—his doctor told him to avoid any sort of exercise walking fast included.

He could hear her throwing up once he entered the restroom and followed the unpleasant sounds of emptying her stomach to find her.

"You need to see a doctor," he said when she got up. "You think the iced tea behind this?" he wondered.

She shook her head, flushing the toilet.

"No to the doctor or the iced tea not sitting well with your stomach?" he wondered.

"Both," she answered and made her way to the sinks to wash her face. "Go back to the waiting room, your appointment is in like five minutes," she told him.

"I'm not leaving you like this."

"Seriously, dude, I'm good."

"What's with the puking then? And, look at you: you look like you might faint."

She blew a breath, tossing the paper towel she used to dry her face in the bin, then looked at him. "Okay, I'll head down to the emergency room."

"You're just saying you will so I'd leave."

She rolled her eyes. "I'll wait until you're done so you can tag along to the emergency room. Now go."

He nodded reluctantly stepping out of the restroom.

When his appointment ended, Jesse walked out to find Beca sitting on one of the chairs. She weirdly looked better than she did when he went to see his doctor.

"What did she say?" Beca asked, sitting up when she saw him.

"Scans are clean. The swelling on my brain should be gone soon."

"What about your memory? Any update on that?"

He shook his head, sitting down next to her.

"Sorry to hear that."

"It's fine. I'm alive and that's what matters." Despite how frustrating it was, he tried to look at the bright side. "Come on, you have a doctor to see," he said as if to remind her.

"I know what they'll tell me," she mumbled, wrapping her arms around herself.

"And what's that?" He frowned.

"Congratulations, you're having a baby," she deadpanned.

Jesse didn't know how to react so he just stared at her until she tilted her head to look at him. "I'd say congrats but you don't sound so thrilled about it," he mumbled unsurely.

"What are you talking about? I'm ecstatic," she sarcastically said. She was quiet for some time and since he couldn't think of anything appropriate to say he kept his mouth shut.

"Would you believe me if I told you that it's yours?" she then asked quietly.

He blinked not hiding his surprise. "The baby? Mine?"

"Yeah," she sighed.

"Yes," he answered once the initial surprise faded.

"Why would you believe me? You have Amnesia. I could be lying for a fuck ton of possible reasons."

He shrugged. "I just do."

"Well, you're an idiot," she murmured.

"Are you going to keep it?" he wondered.

"I considered getting an abortion but I couldn't bring myself to go through with it." She blew a breath. "I thought about Aiden and how I don't regret having him despite how fucking terrified I was when I found out about him." She shrugged. "And, yeah. I couldn't do it. I know it would easier if I just got rid of it but it doesn't sound fair. Like, who am I to choose which unplanned kid I keep."

Jesse knew it would be best to just let her rant about it and only speak when she went quiet.

"Like I _know_ it's my choice. And, I'm pro-choice. But I can't." She shook her head. "Aiden wasn't planned and I kept him and I'm keeping this one too."

"This kid is so lucky to have you as their mother," he gushed.

"Dude, you don't even know me," she noted in response.

"You said we're not friends and _yet_ you make an awful lot of time for me," he mentioned. "Morning sickness is taking a toll on you _yet_ you still showed up to take me to my appointment. You're very giving, Beca and I really admire that about you. That's how I know our baby just like their brother is extremely lucky," he confidently said while smiling at her, hoping his words would help calm her nerves.

Beca usually did an amazing job masking her feelings—he knew she couldn't possibly be as stoic as she seemed— but he could see through the crack in the front usually she put on.

He'd hug her but he didn't know if she'd be okay with it so he squeezed her shoulder instead.

Beca cleared her throat and momentarily looked away from him to compose herself, he assumed.

When she looked back the front was back. "You must be wondering when and how did we even end up making a baby when we're not together."

"Uh, yeah."

"We got drunk and hooked up," she stated. "I mean in total we hooked up three times, not counting the time we made Aiden. I'm pretty sure it was the first time."

"I found out about it the day you had the surgery," she answered. "And I told you before you went into surgery."

He nodded absorbing the information.

"I couldn't tell you while you're in recovery. You had to focus on getting better. So, I figured I'd just wait until you got _better_," she explained.

"When are you due?"

"March, I think. I haven't had the time to go and see my gynecologist and like get specifics. I just took a test at home—"

"Can I go with you?" he asked, interrupting her. "When you do eventually go see your doctor, can I be there?"

"Yeah, sure." She nodded. "That'd be nice." She smiled meeting his gaze.

He naturally smiled back. "Does Aiden know?"

"No." The smile she was sporting was replaced by a frown. "He doesn't know we hooked up either." She looked down at her hands, interlocking them. "I honestly have no idea how he'll react. He's been through a lot these couple of months... It's been really hard on him."

"I know. But I wouldn't worry about Aiden reacting negatively," he reassured. "Aiden is a great kid. I'm sure he'll be happy he's having a sister or brother."

"You think?" she doubted, again allowing him to see right through her.

"Yeah." He nodded. "As for us hooking up, we'll just blame liquor."

"Setting a really great example for Aiden," she deadpanned.

Jesse laughed in spite of himself before he pulled his cellphone from his pocket feeling it vibrate.

"Aiden?" He heard Beca guess.

"Yeah," he answered. "He just got home." He typed back a reply, glancing up when Beca stood up.

"Wanna tell him today?" Jesse wondered, getting up as well.

"What's the point of putting it off now that you know," she let out a nervous breath.

"Whenever you're ready. You got up until you start showing."

"No, I'm telling him today," she decided.

* * *

Jesse could tell Beca was holding her breath in anticipation of Aiden's reaction once she told him. He wasn't worried, though. He had no memory of either one of them but he sure as hell could see how much Aiden adored his mother.

So, yeah, it wasn't much of a surprise when the boy enveloped his mother in a bear hug, "That is awesome, mom!"

_'Told ya,'_ Jesse mouthed, meeting Beca's gaze.

She rolled her eyes at him.

"What is it?" he asked, pulling away just enough to look at her.

"It's still early to know."

He pulled her into his embrace again, this time picking her up in the process.

"When will you know?" he questioned, putting her down.

"In a couple of months maybe," she answered.

"I take that you're okay not being an only child anyone," Jesse said from his spot, his cheeks hurting from smiling so much at the sight.

"I'm willing to negotiate babysitting prices," he joked.

Beca leaned up, tiptoeing, to kiss him on the forehead—Aiden was in his father's height and he was still growing: he took after his maternal grandfather when it came to height, from his father it was hair color and texture, and inherited his mother's skin tone and eyes (both color and shape). The rest of his features was a mix between both his parents.

"How, though?" he awkwardly asked, looking between them.

He didn't have to properly form a question, they both knew what he was puzzled about: how did his parents end up making a baby.

"I would say I become incredibly charming when I'm drunk and managed to sweep your mom off her feet but I can't remember," Jesse attempted to joke and if it were a sitcom you'd hear cricket sounds.

"That's not too far from what happened. Except that it's just getting drunk and being in close proximity," Beca said and Jesse could hear it in her voice; the shame she felt.

She tried to pull away from Aiden when he dropped his hands and wasn't really hugging her anyone but Jesse didn't miss the way the boy tightened his hold to keep her from breaking the hug.

"The baby is not even born yet but looks like I already have something in common with him or her," Aiden said in amusement. "Other than having the same parents," he added as an afterthought, snorting.

* * *

**AN: **Thanks for spending a few minutes of your day reading this. I'd love to hear your feedback on the story so far, folks.


	6. Chapter 6

"Did you tell your parents?" Jesse asked as he and Beca sat in the waiting room of her doctor's clinic.

"I told dad," she answered. "I'd tell mom but I can't get a hold of her," she grumbled. "I tried her cellphone, it goes straight to voicemail. I think I might just send her an email." She sighed. "Aiden told me she uploaded pictures from her current vacation in the Caribbean with her boyfriend on Facebook. So maybe I should join Facebook just to leave her a message since she cares more about sharing what goes on in her life on social media then she does with me," she bitterly said.

"I'll take that you two aren't exactly close," he mumbled.

"Nope," she quietly said and he nodded understanding that she didn't want to get into it.

"I didn't tell anyone," he shared with her. "I would but I don't know _who_ to tell." He let out a humorless chuckle. "I looked through my messages and the one person that _might_ count as a close friend is Bumper and the Bumper I remember from when I was a freshman in college was a dick and I don't know why I'm friends with him."

"Honestly, you were kind of a dick, too," Beca informed him.

He blinked at the revelation.

"Beca Mitchell?" the nurse called interrupting their conversation.

Beca inhaled deeply before she got up. Jesse followed in tow.

Jesse wasn't sure what he was looking at but the sound of _their_ baby's heartbeat warmed his heart.

Beca's OB/GYN assured them that the baby was in good health and gave them a due date: March 22nd.

* * *

"Thanks," Beca said accepting the glass of water Jesse handed her once she was done puking her guts out.

"When will it ease up?" he wondered as she drank the water.

"When I was with Aiden nausea stopped around the twentieth week," she answered.

"That's a lot of weeks." He frowned.

"It's fine. Throwing up is gross and annoying but honestly, it's not the worst part of being pregnant." She patted his chest and walked past him.

"What is the worst part of being pregnant?" he wondered following her.

"Giving birth," she sighed and drowned what was left of the water in the glass.

"Right," he nodded, taking the glass from her. "Beca," he called when she made her way to the front door.

"Yeah?" She looked over her shoulder.

"Maybe you should take a few minutes before hitting the road?" he suggested. "Just wait until your nausea eases up a little."

She was fine for most of the ride back to his place, but he noticed the way her breathing changed and how she started to sweat. And he _hated_ the fact that there was nothing he could do to help.

Jesse was however pretty impressed by how calm Beca was as she asked if she could use the bathroom once she pulled over in front of his house then waited for him to unlock the door before she paced to the closest bathroom to puke.

"Okay," Beca agreed after holding his gaze for a few seconds.

"Cool. Is there anything I could get you?" Jesse just saw his baby in her womb and it made the whole thing feel more real. He didn't know how to explain it to Beca but he basically felt a great deal of protectiveness of her. "You know, to help with nausea?" he added when she looked at him blankly and said nothing response.

"I usually just wait for it to go." She shrugged.

"I'll look online there must be some remedies," he mumbled, pulling his cellphone out of his pocket and swiping to unlock it.

He ended up making her ginger tea that he could tell she only agreed to drink because he was acting like a freaking grandma.

"Stop looking me like that," she mumbled after taking a sip of the tea.

"Like what?" he frowned, sitting next to her on the couch.

"Like I'm a puppy you just adopted and don't know what to do with it," she deadpanned. "For one thing you're the one that looks like a freaking puppy."

"First off, I think I can take care of a puppy. Second, I'm just trying to be helpful—"

"—well, I don't need your help and you're not my boyfriend so just back off," she interrupted.

Jesse was taken aback with her outburst. "I'm sorry," he found himself apologizing.

She exhaled loudly, "No, I'm sorry." She ran a hand through her hair. "That was uncalled for." She let out a humorless chuckle. "I'm being such a bitch to you right now." She shook her head.

"You kinda are," he agreed. "But I understand." He paused. "I've been doing some reading and mood swings are normal during the first few months of pregnancy."

"You've been reading about pregnancy?"

"Yeah." He nodded, trying not to think hard about how surprising it was to her. "The librarian recommended this one called _what to expect when you're expecting_. So, I've been reading that one." He rubbed the back of his neck a little uncomfortable with the way she was looking at him. "Was I not involved when you were pregnant with Aiden?" he wondered. "I'm getting the impression that I wasn't."

"No, no, you were." She took a sip of tea before continuing. "You even asked me if I wanted to get married the day I told you about him."

"We had a one night stand why would I ask if you wanted to get married?" he wondered. "It's so degrading to marriage." He sighed. "I hope I didn't ask you again when you told me about baby number two."

"You were kinda dying," she uneasily said, clicking her tongue. "Marriage wasn't something on your mind."

"Right." He nodded. "So, how's the tea?" he asked, moving on.

"Good."

He rubbed his hands against his thighs. "Hey, so since you're here do you mind if we went through some pictures from Aiden's childhood and you gave me some backstory?" he requested.

"I don't mind." She shrugged.

"Thank you." He got up to retrieve an album.

"Okay, so this is from Halloween I assume?" he guessed, pointing at a picture as he sat down.

She nodded, peeking her head to look at the picture. "Yeah. Aiden was nine I think," she confirmed. "You dressed him up after Judd Nelson in the Breakfast Club," she informed.

"Bender, yeah." He grinned. "I'm glad Aiden turned out nothing like him."

"What do you mean?" she frowned. "What's up with Judd Nelson?"

"_You haven't seen the breakfast club?_" he almost gasped.

She shook her head.

"Oh my god," he exclaimed. "It has the best ending to any movie ever."

"I'll take that you've seen every movie ever made to be able to make such statement," she retorted.

"I'm using hyperbole, Beca." He rolled his eyes. "We need to fix this." He placed the album on the coffee table.

"Let's look at the pictures, Jesse." Beca watched Jesse as he walked to the stacks of DVDs he had on display in the living area. "They could really help with your memory, unlike _movies_."

"Do you not like movies or something?" he questioned. "I'm getting that vibe from you judging by the way you said _movies_."

"I'm _glad_ your observation skills weren't affected by your Amnesia, Jesse."

"What's wrong with you? How do you not like movies?" he demanded.

"They're fine. I just get bored and never make it to the end," she explained.

"That's just unacceptable." He shook his head in disappointment. "We _really_ need to fix this, Beca." He placed the movie in the DVD player then walked back to the couch.

"Nope, you know why?" she asked, placing the mug of tea on the coffee table near the album. "Because it's not even an issue," she answered before he could say anything.

He rolled his eyes, grabbing the remote control to start the movie. "Just watch the ending. It'll blow your mind," he confidently said. "I promise."

"Okay," she doubted, leaning against the couch.

"The Breakfast Club. 1985. Greatest ending to any movie ever. This song launched Simple Minds in the US. Could have been a Billy ldol song, but he turned it down. _Idiot. _Perfectly sums up the movie. It's equally beautiful and sad."

"That is fascinating."

"Right?" he replied, ignoring her very obvious sarcasm.

"Tell me, what does Judd Nelson eat for breakfast?" Beca questioned in amusement.

"Oh, well, like all misunderstood rebels, he feeds on hypocrisy," he answered, playing along.

"Sure."

"And black coffee to help with his morning dumps."

"You're an idiot." He couldn't see her face because he was fixating on the movie but he could tell she was smiling, he could hear it in her voice.

"It's true. I'm full of fun facts."

"You should let other people tell you they're fun."

He was mouthing the lines with the actors when he felt her gaze on him instead of the cinematic masterpiece playing. "You're missing the ending." Jesse tilted his head and caught her looking down at his lips.

"Sorry," she apologized half-heartily before she looked back at the movie.

Instead of shifting his attention to the movie, he openly stared at her.

When she looked back at him and once again she gazed traveled between his lips and eyes, Jesse took it as a cue and leaned in.

She pulled her head back and sat up, gesturing at the credits as they rolled. "Um. It's good. I'm sure the beginning is..." she cleared her throat. "Great."

"Yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to process what just happened, or _almost_ happened. "So." He reached and grabbed the album, pointing at a random photo. "When was this?" he asked, trying to make things less awkward.

* * *

Hearing the door get unlocked, Jesse rushed out of the kitchen to greet Aiden by placing his index vertically on his lips to tell the boy to keep it quiet while gesturing at Beca who was asleep on the couch.

Aiden nodded, shrugging off his backpack, and followed Jesse into the kitchen. "Why is mom asleep on the couch? Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's just taking a nap," Jesse said in response.

"Mom doesn't nap," Aiden frowned. "Like at all. I don't remember her ever taking a nap."

"I'm sure she took plenty of naps when she was pregnant with you."

"You're making dinner?" Aiden said finally registering the apron his father was wearing as well as the smell of food being cooked.

"Yeah."

"Okay," Aiden mumbled not hiding his surprise.

"Why is it a surprise?"

"It's just not like you." The boy shrugged. "You'd postmates a boiled egg if you could."

"What's postmates?" Jesse wondered.

"Right," Aiden said as he shook his head. "It's this app that you can use to get stuff delivered to you without actually going to a store. People use it for food mainly."

"Well, that sounds very lazy."

"You were super lazy, dad."

_Kind of a dick and lazy. _That's all he had so far when it came to his personality prior to losing his memory. He wondered if these traits would resurface over time and hoped they wouldn't.

Aiden unzipped his backpack and pulled a box. "What do you think?" he asked, opening it and revealing a silver bracelet. "It's for mom. Her birthday is coming up. Well, it's next month actually but I saw this and it screams her so I got it."

"Wow." Jesse eyed the details on the bracelet. "This looks expensive. How much did it cost?"

"Four hundred bucks," Aiden answered.

"Where did you get the money?" He looked up.

"I took a job during summer. I thought I'd help out with like grocery and stuff like that. But Mom didn't let me."

"So you went and got her a bracelet with the money you made for her birthday instead?"

"Not all of it," Aiden clarified.

Jesse hummed in response, trying to find the right words to say in order not to sound like a jackass.

"You don't think she'd like it?" Aiden doubtfully asked.

"It's very pretty. You really have a great taste," Jesse began to say. "I'm sure she'll like it. But the fact that you spent a lot of money on it might not sit well with her."

Aiden scratched his temple at his father's words. "She's gonna be mad at me." He closed the box and tossed it in his backpack. "I just wanted to get her something nice."

"It is really nice," Jesse insisted. "And we don't know for sure if she'd get mad or not. You said it cost four hundred bucks?"

"Yeah." He reached inside his pocket. "Here's the receipt."

Jesse accepted it from him and eyed it before saying, "When Mom asks, tell her I gave you the money, that way she can get pissed at me for letting you buy her something expensive. I don't have cash on me now right now. I'll pay you back tomorrow."

"You don't have to do this," Aiden hesitated.

"Of course I do." Jesse smiled at the boy, not sure how to feel about Aiden's hesitance to accept. "Tell me." Jesse stuffed the receipt in his pocket and went back to preparing dinner. "Why did you want to help out with money?"

Aiden hesitated before he spoke, "Mom wouldn't have to work as hard as she does if we had more money."

Jesse frowned wondering why Beca refused child support when she needed it.

"I should have known she wouldn't let me help when she's been saying no to you for as long as I can remember," Aiden mumbled. "The only time she agreed to help was when grandma offered her a job at her legal firm."

"Grandma?"

"Grandma Sheila. Uh, she's a lawyer and is part-owner of a legal firm in Barden," Aiden elaborated. "Mom ended up turning her offer down."

"Why?"

"She wanted me to stay here in L.A. with you. I didn't want to stay here without her—no offense, dad."

"None taken," Jesse replied unable to fathom why Beca was willing to do that. She was clearly Aiden's favorite parent out of the two. "When was this?"

"Back in June," Aiden answered.

"Right." Jesse was learning a lot today and it sparked a ton of questions. "Beca, hey, you're up!" he said when she entered the kitchen looking quite puzzled.

"For how long was I out?" she asked, stifling a yawn.

"A solid couple of hours I'd say," he estimated. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah," she answered rotating her neck then cracked a smile when Aiden greeted her with a kiss on the cheek.

"I thought about moving you to a bed but bedrooms are upstairs and my doctor doesn't want me lifting heavy things yet," Jesse explained.

"Mom is not heavy," Aiden said then went on to demonstrate by picking her up.

"Let me rephrase," Jesse began to say. "Doctor doesn't want me lifting things heavier than ten pounds."

"Aiden knows that, he just likes to pick me up at random," Beca sighed. "Put me down. You're gonna hurt your back."

"No, I won't," he said as he did what she asked him to do. "And since I'm gonna start lifting weight soon I'm gonna practice on you."

Beca rolled her eyes before tilting her head towards Jesse. "Aiden wants to go all Arnold Schwarzenegger."

"I don't want to be as buffed as Arnold Schwarzenegger. I just want to gain some muscle tone."

"If your motivation is to get girls then don't because the only people who will be complimenting you are other dudes who lift," Jesse told him.

"I can get girls without the muscle," Aiden confidently said.

"Speaking of, is there a _girl_ I can meet?" the father wondered.

"No. But it's not because I can't get a girlfriend," he clarified. "I've just started high school and I'd like to get used to this new environment before I get involved with anyone," he reasoned.

"My little nerd has his priorities in check," Beca said in amusement, running her hand through the boy's curly hair.

"I'm taller than you. Like a foot taller than you. You gotta stop calling me _that_."

"Seven inches actually." She patted his cheek. "And, no. Unless God forbid you stop being such a nerd." She placed a hand against her heart in faking worry.

"Mom," he groaned not fighting the grin the spread across his face.

She cracked a smile, rubbing his arm before she looked at her watch. "It's getting late," she mumbled.

"Stay for dinner," Jesse and Aiden said in unison.

She looked between them, slightly weirded out by how in sync they were. They also were sporting the same expression: giving her serious puppy dog eyes.

"Um, okay," Beca agreed. "Do you need help?" she asked, frowning when she noticed the mess Jesse made while making dinner.

"Nah, I got it." He looked around him. "I'm almost done actually."

"It smells great, Dad," Aiden told him.

"Thanks, buddy."

"So, how did the appointment go?" the boy asked next. "Did you see the baby?"

"It went pretty well. And, yes we did… It doesn't look like anything yet really," Beca answered.

* * *

"I shouldn't have let you sleep on the couch," Jesse sighed as he watched Beca uncomfortably rub her obviously sore neck exiting the bathroom.

He didn't miss the way she kept on rubbing her neck over dinner and it really bothered him to see her in discomfort.

He knew he should have woken her up but didn't because he also knew that she'd leave once she woke up.

Jesse would be lying if he said that he didn't want her to stay over. He liked having her around. She was fun to have around with her endless witty and sarcastic remarks.

"You just looked like you needed some sleep."

"When did I even fall asleep? I don't remember."

"We were watching home videos." Things got a whole lot less awkward after they almost kissed once they popped a home video from Aiden's childhood. "I got up to make popcorn and when I came back you were curled up on the couch asleep."

"Jesus," she mumbled.

"You needed a nap." He shrugged. "And right now you need a neck rub," he told her.

"No, dude, I'll be fine." She waved it off.

"Come on. I insist," he gestured her for to follow him to the couch then patted the couch when she didn't.

She rolled her eyes before sitting down next to him, giving him her back.

Jesse carefully moved her hair so it was on one shoulder to expose the back of her neck. "I should show Aiden how to do this," he continued.

"To use on girls he's tryna impress?" she snorted.

The was a brief moment of awkward silence before Jesse spoke.

"If he wants to," he mumbled, shrugging. "Sorry," he apologized when she moaned the moment he pressed his fingers on a tension knot. "Didn't mean to hurt you."

"It feels good, keep going..." She inhaled deeply. "I mean the pressure you're putting is tolerable," she added awkwardly.

"Okay." He swallowed.

You know that scene in every movie with vampires where a vampire had just been turned and is super thirsty then the vampire's with a human aka their first victim and they see their neck and can't think straight anymore? Like, they just want a taste.

Well, Jesse felt like that. Except he didn't want to bite— unless she wanted him to.

He cleared his throat shoving the indecent thoughts he had to the back his mind and tried to focus on finishing the simple task at hand.

Jesse couldn't help but notice the tattoo on her shoulder hiding beneath her white t-shirt. "What's that? A rose?"

"Roses," she answered.

"Do you mind?" he mumbled, hooking his index under the collar of her t-shirt.

She shook her head in response. "No, go ahead."

"It's beautiful," he complimented as he peeked at the tattoo.

"Thank you," Beca quietly said, tilting her head to look at him.

For the second time that day, he caught her when she looked down at his lips. He knew he shouldn't have but he still leaned in.

"Um, my neck feels fine already," she murmured pulling away then ran her fingers through her hair. "So, thanks for that." She stood up and before he knew it she was walking to the kitchen where Aiden was doing the dishes. "Aiden, I'm gonna head home," she said as she stood in the doorway.

"Oh, okay," Aiden replied, drying his hands with a cloth as he made his way to her. "Night, mom." He threw an arm around her hugging her briefly and placing a peck on her hair. "Love you."

"Love you, too." She rubbed his back.

"Night, Jesse," she said while barely looking at him before she headed to the front door.

Aiden went back to the kitchen to finish washing the dishes once Beca was out of the house, oblivious to the tension between his parents. Meanwhile, Jesse sank into the couch wondering, _'what the hell just happened?'_

* * *

**AN:** I just wanted to clarify here that I did the bare minimum of research when it comes to amnesia. So, if you could kindly roll with my lack of knowledge that would be awesome.

To reply to the dear guest that left a review hoping this story won't be a slowburn, LOL I feel you. I promise I won't drag it.

Thank you, guys, for stopping by. I'm really glad you dig the story.


	7. Chapter 7

"Beca, hey," Jesse greeted in surprise when he found Beca at his doorstep at six in the morning. "Everything okay?" he stepped back and widely opened the door to let her in.

"Yep." She extended her hand. "Here."

He looked down at her hand.

"What for?" he asked playing dumb.

"Jesse," she sighed. "Just take it."

He shook his head.

She rubbed her forehead with her free hand. "Look."

He already was looking but he nodded when she met his gaze.

"You can spend money on Aiden all you want but within reason." She paused. "You can't give him money to buy expensive gifts for me."

"You didn't explicitly say that," he noted. "I'm not gonna take it back, Beca," he firmly said. "Aiden wanted to get you something _nice_ for your birthday—happy thirty-sixth birthday, by the way, you don't look a day over thirty— so just appreciate the sentiment–"

"—I'm not okay with wasting money like that."

"Getting you a birthday gift is a waste of money?" he frowned.

She shrugged.

"You're wrong." He held on to the doorframe. "Scowl all you want, Beca. You're very wrong. If I didn't know you'd refuse anything I get for you I'd buy you all the fancy things you didn't think you wanted." He paused. "Do you have something against show biz money or something? Do you think it's not hard earned?" He grimaced, trying to make light of the situation.

The scowl was replaced with a glare but Jesse didn't care. He was expecting her to drop in as soon as Aiden gave her the bracelet on her birthday. He just thought Beca would come at a reasonable hour not at six am.

"Also now that money is brought up we need to talk about child support."

"No, we don't."

"Beca, we're having a baby," he stated. "How in the hell do you plan to support yourself once he or she is born when you're having financial issues?" He watched her expression change to slight confusion. "Yeah, Aiden told me," he confirmed before she even asked. "I get that I was a dick. I really do. Because what kind of asshole doesn't pay child support? I don't care how stubborn you are. It's not an excuse for me to just not give you—"

She stepped forwards and quickly stuffed the four 100$ bills she had been holding in one of the pockets of his sweatpants as he spoke then turned on her heels.

"Whoa there." He reached for her forearm and took it in his hand. "We're not done talking."

"Yes, we are. Let go of my arm," she said behind gritted teeth.

"I don't know what I did to make you so mad at me. So, if you could just tell me so I can fix it that'd be great." He dropped his hand.

"I'm not mad at you," she blew a breath. "I just don't want your money. Why is that so hard to understand?"

"Because it doesn't make any sense!" he exclaimed. "You need it but you won't take it because it's _mine_. Why is that?"

"It's not because it's your money." She crossed her arms across her chest defensively. "It's just that when I decided to keep Aiden I promised him and myself that it'll be just us and that we wouldn't need anyone. Having his sibling doesn't change that."

"It doesn't have to be that way," he mumbled.

"Well, it is and I plan to keep it that way," she firmly said.

"But why?" he felt like a broken record at this point.

"Bye, Jesse," she said before she left.

* * *

"What's that?" Beca asked when she spotted Jesse holding a white flag as he made his way towards her.

"Peace offering," he told her.

"Is that a t-shirt?" she realized, as he got closer.

"Yes." He nodded. "I improvised with what I had at home." He waved the t-shirt he had hot-glued to a stick. "Truce?" It was needless to elaborate; she knew.

"You won't bring up money again?" she checked.

"I won't," he assured, extending his arm to seal the truce with a firm handshake.

"Alright, Swanson," she retorted, shaking his hand. "Put that thing away," she told him feeling the eyes of other patients in the waiting room on them.

"Why? I think it's pretty cool." He waved it around some more.

"People are looking," she mumbled.

He sat down and rolled the t-shirt, placing it on his lap.

"How was your day?" he wondered.

"Okay." She shrugged.

"Well, mine has been kind of productive," he shared with her. "I cleaned up the garage. Worked out a little."

"Cool," she curtly said in response.

Ever since the whole bracelet situation, Beca became extremely distant.

Well, she had grown distant since the day they almost kissed _twice _but bracelet thingy made it worse.

And, Jesse really didn't like that. Scratch that, he actually hated how she'd become and hated that he didn't know to fix things with her.

* * *

"Baby's looking great," Beca's OB/GYN said as he eyed the monitor. "And not only that but he or she is cooperating today. Do you want to know if it's a he or a she?"

"Yes," Beca and Jesse said in unison.

"It's a girl," he announced.

"A girl," Jesse echoed. "We're having a girl, Beca." He tilted his head to look at Beca. "One of each, how about that?"

She squeezed his hand, meeting his gaze.

He placed a quick peck on her forehead averting his eyes from her lips because he'll be damned if he tried to kiss her again.

* * *

"Got any names for her in mind?" Jesse wondered as they exited the doctor's office.

"Actually, yeah," she nodded. "Rosalie," she shared with him. "I wanna name her Rosalie but if you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them."

"No, I like Rosalie," he smiled to himself. "Any middle name to go with that?"

"You picked Aiden's middle name, I think you should pick Rosalie's too."

He sucked in a breath, thinking of the potential names he had in mind and seeing which one would work with Rosalie. "How about Anastasia?"

"Fuck no!" she immediately said.

"Why?" He frowned.

"There's this ridiculously popular erotic novel-turned-movie about BDMS, the protagonist is called Anastasia."

"Okay," he slowly said. "I need to catch up with current pop culture."

"We can go with Miriam if you want?" Beca suggested once they reached the parking lot.

"Miriam after my mom you mean?" He was surprised and didn't hide it.

"Yeah, after your mom, Jesse," she confirmed. "Gotta admit, Rosalie Miriam has a ring to it."

"Thank you." He pulled her into a hug.

"She's yours, too, Jesse," she reminded.

"Still." He rested his cheek against her head. "Thank you." He felt her rub his back as she hugged him back at last.

Jesse missed his parents like crazy. He was still adjusting to the reality of them being gone and whenever he thought about them he'd get emotional and this time around it was no different.

He cleared his throat pulling away and discreetly wiped the tears that he failed to blink back.

"Jesse, you okay?" Beca quietly asked.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"If you wanna _talk_ you can you know?" she mumbled seeing right through the lie he just told her.

"Thank you for offering but this isn't the time." He shook his head. "So, we're definitely going with Rosalie Miriam?" he checked. "You don't wanna give it more thought?"

"No, I like Rosalie Miriam," she replied, subconsciously placing a hand on her bump.

"Hey, baby girl," Jesse said, bending so he was on eye level with Beca's belly. "Guess, what? You just got yourself a name. Part of it is this beautiful flower Mommy likes so much she has a bunch of tattooed on her shoulder and the other is grandma's name…" He felt Beca's fingers caressing his hair as he talked to their daughter. "She would have loved to meet you. Both she and grandpa would have."

"We're totally gonna talk about your parents," Beca announced when Jesse straightened up. "There's a lot to unpack." She gestured at him with her hand.

"Right now?"

"Do you have somewhere to be?" Beca wondered as she unlocked her car.

"No," he replied.

"Then yeah, right now."

"Beca," he called. "I appreciate this, I really do. But you seriously don't have to do this. You don't have to look after me. So, no, I'm not gonna make you listen to me yabber about my late parents and how I can't process them being gone."

"I know that I don't have to listen to you yabber about your late parents and how you can't process them being gone." She placed her bag in the passenger seat before she turned back to him. Meeting Jesse's gaze, Beca sighed, "Look if you don't wanna talk to me then be it, find a therapist just don't bottle shit down," she advised. "It's the worst coping mechanism ever," Beca added, grumbling.

He frowned at her tone, "Talking from experience, huh?"

"Oh, yeah."

"Wanna talk about it?" he found himself asking before he even thought about it.

She looked at him blankly before saying, "_Seriously, _dude?"

He chuckled stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Okay, fine, let's talk about my parents. But I wanna hear what pushed Beca Mitchell into changing her coping mechanism."

"Okay." She nodded. "Do you mind if we did the talking while grocery shopping?"

"Nope. Not at all."

"Uh. Cool. Then just follow me with your car."

He watched her climb inside her vehicle and as she pulled out of the parking lot, he unlocked his own car.

* * *

"It just sucks, you know?" Jesse sighed once he finished his half-hour long rambling about how he felt about his parents passing away. "Not having them."

"I know," Beca quietly mumbled. "I can relate to not having parents."

He tilted his head to look at her a puzzled expression on his face. "I mean my parents are alive and well but I get it. Dad left when I was young and I only got to really know him when I was in my early twenties. As for Mom, we used to be close... then we weren't as close anymore. Then we stopped talking altogether because I didn't hate Dad anymore and that didn't sit well with her." He could hear the anguish in her words and it made him want to hug her and comfort her. "I tried to patch up with her a few times ever since I had Aiden. She showed up to one of his birthdays and now she has my number in her contact list again."

"Aiden really changed you," he noted.

"As a toddler, Aiden would look at me like I'm the greatest human being ever which I'm _so_ not," she mumbled. "So I tried to become a better person, a person worth looking up to," she explained.

"Well, you succeeded at that," he told her and heard her snort in response. "You did," he insisted.

"Dude, we got drunk and had unprotected sex. That's not something a person _worth looking up to_ does."

"To err is human. We make mistakes, it's our thing. Although, Aiden and Rosalie aren't mistakes." He paused to bend to get on eye level with Beca's belly. "You're an unplanned but awesome surprise and we love you, sweetheart," he said addressing Rosalie before he straightened up. "_Us_ hooking up drunk, though, is irrelevant to how Aiden sees you."

"How is it irrelevant exactly? Pretty sure our screw-up is high on the list of things we're not supposed to do. Especially since we have a teenage son who I had talked to about the importance of using _protection_."

"Can you please not refer to our daughter by M or S words?" Jesse mumbled.

"She can't really hear us, Jesse." Beca rolled her eyes.

"She actually does. Babies start hearing around the eighteenth week."

"She doesn't understand what we say," Beca deadpanned.

"Still." He shot her a dirty look. "Not cool."

"Don't fucking judge me," she glared at him, hitting him in the arm with toilet paper before she tossed it in the cart. "Unlike you, I'm acknowledging the fact that we fucked up, dude. Drunk hookups aren't supposed to result in babies who will have to endure a life with parents who were never together."

"I acknowledge that we weren't careful," he said. "But I don't think it's a mistake." Jesse shrugged. "I don't know how you did it but you managed to raise Aiden right despite not having the "stability" of a conventional family." It wasn't hard to draw that conclusion on his own. He was observant enough to notice the little things that made it clear that Beca did all the parenting and that he didn't have much of a role in Aiden's upbringing.

"And I know that Rosalie will turn out just as great as Aiden. Which makes you someone worth looking up to." He smiled at her. "Sure abortions are the easy way out of an unplanned baby but you didn't go for easy. I can only imagine how hard it was but you made it work. I mean look at Aiden. He's awesome."

"Yeah, he is," she agreed.

"And, he loves you _to Infinity and beyond!_" He grinned when Beca rolled her eyes at his impression of Buzz Lightyear. "Who cares that we hooked up sixteen years ago and had a baby? I know Aiden doesn't—I mean he must care that we did because otherwise, he wouldn't be here but you know what I mean," he confidently said. "I _know for a fact _he's psyched he's having a sister and so do you. So stop beating yourself up about it." He nudged her lightly.

She curtly nodded her head, tucking the hair that fell on her face behind her ear.

"You're done?" Jesse questioned in surprise when he realized that they were headed towards the cashier.

"Yeah," she answered.

Jesse frowned looking at how full the cart was and wondering why he didn't feel the time pass by.

He helped her load the grocery in the trunk then stepped back to close the trunk. "How are you going to carry all this into your apartment?" he asked, gesturing at the full trunk.

She was small and had put on some extra weight, even if it wasn't much, and it was starting to become a source of discomfort. She couldn't carry as many bags as she would if she weren't with child.

"I'm coming with you," he decided, closing the trunk.

"Dude."

"No, it'll wind you up. All those trips from the parking lot to the building."

"Jesse, seriously. I'm not a cripple."

"I know. But you are five months pregnant and you're on your feet a lot as it is. Just let me do this, okay?" He held her gaze until she rolled her eyes.

"Fine," she gave in.

* * *

"You're five months pregnant. You've been climbing four stories every day twice at least," he grumbled.

"Jesse, talk less and breathe more," Beca mumbled in boredom, she was few steps behind him and she could hear him breathing louder than a dog.

"And where's your landlord? They need to fix the elevator. SIX MONTHS? Why is it taking them six fucking months to fix the elevator?"

She really regretted feeding him that piece of information because he hadn't shut up since.

"It's really old and they've been pushing fixing it while it was still working for so long. It finally broke down completely and now they can't find a technician that can fix something that probably was around during the cold war."

"How old is this place?" he wondered, looking around them.

"I don't know." Beca shrugged.

"You should move out. Find a place that was built in the latter part of the past millennium," he advised. "This place is probably haunted," he murmured.

Beca sighed, grateful they reached the fourth floor, which meant she'd get a break from Jesse.

"Thank you," she smiled at him when he placed the bags on the counter. "Take a break if you need, Jess," she added, noting the sweat forming on his forehead.

"No, I'm good." He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "I'll be right back."

It only took him a couple of trips but it exhausted him.

He accepted the glass of water Beca handed him and brought it to his lips, chugging it.

"You look like you just ran a marathon," Beca noted as she unpacked grocery.

"I'm not in my best shape," he admitted. "Doctor only recently told me it's okay to work out and from my muscles reaction I think I haven't worked out in like ten years."

She watched him as he sat down on a stool facing her before she turned on her heels to place the pasta she bought in the cardboard.

Jesse couldn't help but stare at her butt before his eyes drifted to her chest once she turned around.

She caught him red-handed and he had to act fast.

"I've been wondering how the hell you sneak time to work out because your legs look amazing, now I know," he said, trying to pass what he was doing for casually looking at her toned legs. "It's climbing those damn stairs."

She snorted but let it slide. "So you wanna go all Schwarzenegger like Aiden?" she asked.

"No. I just want to be healthy." He shrugged. "And live long enough to see the kids all grown up." He blew a breath at the thought of almost dying and the probability of getting sick again—the chances of the tumor coming back would drop after two years, he had to do everything within his power to make sure it never came back.

"Aiden would love to work out with you," she quietly said defusing the heavy moment where they both thought about the possibility of his illness making a return. "He should be here by six, you can ask him then," she suggested.

He looked at the time and seeing that it was five-thirty, he nodded, "Okay. So, you making his favorite for dinner?" he asked, noting the ingredients on the counter.

"Yeah," she confirmed. "I don't know what he finds so fascinating about pan pasta." She shrugged. "But he texted and asked if I could make it for dinner. So I'm making it."

Jesse could tell Beca really looked forward to the days Aiden spent at her place. He only recently started going back and forth between them and he could see how happy it made Aiden—he wasn't seeing much of Beca but he knew she was just as happy.

"Maybe it holds a special memory," he suggested.

She thought about it for some time before mumbling, "Yeah, maybe."

"Hey, we should do something to tell Aiden about his sister."

"What do you mean?" Beca frowned.

"I mean we shouldn't just tell him, 'oh and by the way, the baby is a girl'."

"What do you suggest? A gender reveal party?"

"No, not a party- unless you want to do that- I'm thinking cupcakes with pink pudding. It's cute, right?"

She gave it some thought then nodded. "I can make those."

* * *

"Your brilliant idea didn't work," Beca murmured so only Jesse could hear her.

Aiden had devoured two cupcakes thinking they were just dessert and didn't link it to his sister and Jesse was trying to find a way to make him notice.

"It will," he murmured back. "So, Aiden," Jesse called, following Aiden into the living area where he sat down on the couch.

"Yeah?" the boy mumbled his mouth full of his third cupcake.

"What do you think of dessert?" Jesse casually asked, sitting down next to his son.

"It's great," Aiden replied. "Mom usually makes them with chocolate pudding but strawberry pudding is really good, too."

"Yeah, I asked if she could make them with strawberry," he mumbled, rubbing his hands together. "How was your day, buddy?" he questioned changing his tactic when Aiden still didn't get it.

"Okay." Aiden shrugged. "Yours?"

"Productive. Cleaned the garage. Worked out for a little. Then met Mom at the doctor's office for her appointment…" he trailed off, shooting Aiden a knowing look.

Jesse smiled when Aiden stopped chewing and looked down at the cupcake before looking at him then at Beca who was standing behind the kitchenette counter watching them.

"It's a girl?" he figured, meeting Beca's gaze.

"Yep." She nodded.

"I'm gonna be an overly protective obnoxious older brother and I cannot wait," Aiden then said earning an eye roll from his mother.

"Now that you know. I'm gonna go to bed. Please clean up before you go to sleep," she told the boy who nodded in response.

"And, I guess I'm out," Jesse figured, standing up.

"Oh, you don't have to leave," Beca assured him. "I just can't stay up past nine these days," she sighed. "Just keep it down so I can sleep."

"We will," Aiden answered, getting up and walking to his mother. "Night, Mom," He threw an arm around her shoulder and hugged her while planting a kiss on her cheek. "Good night, sis," he added once he got on eye level with his mother's belly.

"Rosalie Miriam, that's her name," Beca informed while running her fingers through the curly locks of Aiden.

"Good night, Rosalie Miriam." He rubbed his hand briefly against her belly.

"Night, Bec," Jesse said, his face hurting from how hard he was smiling.

"Good night," she said and began making her way to her bedroom.

"So, wanna watch a movie?" Aiden wondered.

"Uh, yeah," Jesse nodded, tearing his eyes away from Beca.

"Cool. I'll go make us popcorn. You look for something we can watch."

* * *

"You're still here?" Beca asked quietly when she found Jesse in the kitchenette of her apartment around midnight.

"I'm just finishing cleaning up," he informed.

"I asked Aiden to do that." She walked to the fridge and pulled a bowl of strawberries.

"He fell asleep. It's okay. I don't mind," he assured, glancing at her as she sat down to eat.

"Up for a late night snack?" he guessed.

"Yeah," she confirmed. "Please tell me you didn't carry Aiden to his room," she said after noting that the couch was empty.

"No. I woke him up and told him to go to his room."

She nodded and shifted her attention back to the strawberries.

"Are you craving something I can make for you?" he asked and heard a chuckle.

"No, thank you. I just got up to eat these." She nodded at the strawberries.

"You sure?" he checked. "Cause I've been taking cooking lessons and my teacher told me I'm one of her favorites."

"Cooking lessons, wow," she mumbled in amusement.

"Yeah. Aiden told me I didn't cook before which is weird 'cause I liked cooking growing up."

"People change." She shrugged. "It's not that weird."

"Regardless, you sure you don't want me to make you something?" he double-checked.

"Yes, Jesse. I'm sure." She tossed a strawberry in her mouth and got up to get the whipped cream can.

"Stop judging me," she grumbled seeing that he was watching her as she filled her mouth with whipped cream.

"I'm not," he denied, grabbing a cloth to dry his hands. "I'm in awe of how much whipped cream you can fit in your mouth."

"Want some?" she mumbled, offering to share the strawberries as well the whipped cream.

He took one strawberry and brought it to his mouth while she filled hers with whipped cream.

"Dude," she spoke with her mouthful then quickly grabbed his arm as she swallowed. "She just kicked. Can you feel it?" Beca excitedly asked.

He apologetically shook his head.

"I thought it was strong enough," she murmured.

"That's okay. I'm sure her kicks will get stronger in no time."

"Yeah," Beca sighed, placing her hand over his and moving it under her sweatshirt. "She's going all Jackie Chan, right now." She moved his hand to the left slightly and he almost jumped when he felt a tender kick under the palm of his hand.

"Holy shit, I can feel it. Although, I wouldn't call it _a kick_."

"Her limbs are still developing, Jesse," she told him and he nodded.

"Rosalie, sweetie, it's night time you should be asleep," Jesse said after he lowered himself. "Holy shit," he laughed, feeling more kicks. "It's like she heard me and was like _'how about no,'_" he said, meeting Beca's gaze.

"Please tell her that I'm her dad and that she should listen to me." He straightened up.

Beca rolled her eyes but decided to humor him, "Listen to your father, Rosalie." She looked at him and gave him a look that said, _'happy?'_

"Hey, I never got to thank you for earlier. It felt great it to get it off my chest."

"Don't worry about it, man." She smiled curtly at him. "I highly recommend you find a therapist, though. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm here if you wanna talk but nothing beats professional help."

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna find a therapist," he agreed with her. It felt great to share what was on his mind with her and he was certain a therapist would be the right step to take. "So, yeah, thank you."

Jesse found himself staring into Beca's eyes and couldn't break eye contact. Not until she did and he found himself inching towards her taking the fact that she glanced down at his lips for a cue to act.

He leaned in fully expecting her to pull away just like the other two times he tried to kiss her, except she didn't look away: She met him halfway.

Jesse wrapped the hand was feeling her belly around her waist when their lips met and brought her closer to him. He could only describe kissing Beca as explosive. It wasn't like they started slow then gradually got steamy. Nope, it was fired up from the get-go.

If it wasn't for oxygen neither one of them would have pulled away.

All he could see in her eyes as they caught their breath was lust… lust _for him_. And he was pretty sure she could see how much he wanted her as well.

"Fuck it," she murmured, throwing her arms around his shoulders and pulling him into yet another intoxicating kiss.

It clouded his thoughts but not fully because he had a nagging feeling and made him pull away, "Wait. Hold on," he panted.

"What?" she looked at him in confusion.

"Wait." He sucked in a deep breath.

"Are you okay?" she asked the tone of her voice changing, thinking he was hurt.

"Yeah, no, I'm fine," he assured. "It's just that… what are we doing exactly?" he asked. "I don't know what kind of a person I was before the whole Amnesia thing but right now I know that I don't want just a hookup. I don't think I can actually _just hook up_ with you. I wanna take you out on a date. I mean, I've been wanting to ask you out for a while but you became _so_ distant."

"God, you're easier to hate when you're an actual asshole," Beca murmured, looking away from him.

"What do you mean?" he questioned in puzzlement as he eyed Beca who was intensely staring at the floor.

"I mean exactly what I said. It's easier to hate you when you're a self-loathing obnoxious douchebag with a drinking problem." She grumbled.

He blinked at her blunt description.

"Now you're all sweet although still obnoxious sometimes." She paused."You're a good guy." She huffed, tilting her head to look at him. "And, I can't talk myself into not liking you."

"Thank you?" He watched her sniffle and frowned. "Wait. Are you crying?"

"It's just hormones I don't actually want to cry." She wiped the tears that fell with her hands.

"But you are upset. And it's my fault. I'm sorry I'm not the asshole you know and hate," he tried to joke and heard a chuckle. "Why did you talk yourself into not liking me, though?"

She sighed and leaned against the counter. "Because you're a _fucking mess. _Sex was great but it's not worth the aftermath. We have a kid and I can't cut you out of my life."

He nodded at her words.

"You know, we had this conversation before. Except it wasn't much of a conversation and more of you making statements then leaving in the middle of the conversation because you didn't like what you were hearing."

"Sounds douchey," he admitted. "Do you still think it wouldn't end well if we started dating?" he carefully asked.

"Honestly, I don't know anymore."

"Well," he sighed. "What do you know, Beca?" he wondered, keeping his tone casual.

"I know that I like you," she quietly said in response. "And I know that it's not hormones fucking with me because I liked you even when you were _an insufferable asshole_."

Her words lifted his spirits and Jesse found himself smiling.

"Those were your words by the way," she added.

"You did say I hated myself so it makes sense that I'd say that." He shrugged. "Welp. I'm glad we talked and we know where we both stand."

"Yeah. Me, too," she mumbled, meeting his gaze before her eyes drifted downwards checking him out—she wasn't subtle at all.

"Uh. I know you said you don't know if it would be a good idea to go out with me but I think we should give it a shot," he mumbled.

Jesse meant what he said: he didn't want just a hookup. He wanted to date her— he also wanted her quite badly and knowing she did, too, made things really hard… literally.

"So, just think about it." He cleared his throat. "And if you strongly think it wouldn't work then I'll never bring up again and I promise I won't make it awkward."

"You know what I think?" She bit her bottom lip and he could swear she only did it to fuck with him.

"No," he shook his head.

"Of course you don't, it's rhetorical." She rolled her eyes. "I think hooking up would really help me decide."

He frowned. "You already said sex is great. We clearly have sexual chemistry."

"I know what I said," she blew a breath. "It's just that we were only sober once out of all the times we hooked up. Well, I was sober. You had been drinking since noon."

"Jesus," he murmured.

"Yeah, you actually showed up drunk to my workplace and tried to talk me into fucking you out of my system."

"Wow. I must have been really drunk if I thought that was a good idea. How the hell did it work?" he questioned.

"You got into my head, dude," she sighed.

"I'm sorry for being such an ass," he apologized, extending his hand and rubbing her arm.

She smiled tightly at him and for a second he got lost in her eyes.

Jesse leaned in and kissed Beca with less force than earlier, failing to resist her any longer. He'd use his words to tell her that he was down but showing her was more fun.

She pulled away just enough to speak, "If this is gonna be a pity fuck then let's not."

"Oh, this is the furthest thing from a pity fuck, Beca," he said, slipping his hand down before he picked her up bridal style.

* * *

**AN**: Thank for spending a few minutes of your day with my story. I'd love to hear your feedback on this chapter. So, yeah, let me know what you thought of the newest developments.


	8. Chapter 8

Jesse woke up and had the biggest smile on his face in recent memory. He stretched and only then realized it was only him in bed.

He sat up, scratching his chest and yawning, then smiled when Beca walked into the room. "Good morning," he greeted.

"Morning." She locked the door.

"I'm getting kicked out aren't I?" he guessed.

"No. Not yet. It's still early."

He watched her climb on the bed, resting his weight on his elbow as he faced her.

"When are you kicking me out?" he wanted to know.

"Aiden gets up at seven. So, quarter to seven-ish."

He glanced behind him at the clock on the nightstand and saw that it was 5:50 am. "Did you sleep well?"

She nodded. "You?"

"Best sleep I had in these five months."

"Do you think we made too much noise last night?" she worried, running her fingers over his chest in random patterns.

"You think Aiden heard us?"

"I hope not," she mumbled. "Cause I don't want to explain_ this_ to him."

"Well, no we didn't make that much noise," he assured.

"You sure? I got a noise complaint last time."

"We hooked up here?" he questioned in surprise.

"Yeah," she replied. "Ran into each other at this singles mixer that we both didn't want to be at and got hammered," she recounted. "And of course we ended up in bed. My bed because we shared a taxi and I live closer."

"What about Aiden? You said you got a noise complaint."

"He was spending the night at Chloe's," she told him. "Her brother in law was teaching him how to surf the next day so he spent the night there 'cause it would be easier in the morning which was Chloe's suggestion because she wanted to give me the night off."

"Chloe wanted you to get laid."

"Yep."

"Chloe is the ultimate best friend," he chuckled. "Did you tell her we hooked up? I mean you're pregnant of course she knows, but I wanna know if she knows we hooked up that night."

"Huh?" she looked up from his chest.

"Never mind," he decided. "We'll talk about it later." He tucked the hair that fell on her face behind her ear before he leaned in.

She tasted like mint toothpaste and it made him slightly self-cautious about his morning breath— he'd pull away if she wasn't kissing him and clearly didn't seem to mind that he had yet to brush his teeth.

He rolled on top of her as they made out and slid his hand under her sweatshirt, resting it on her belly for a few seconds before moving his hand upward.

Jesse would drag it for as long as he could because _it was fun_ but they had until 6:45 am before she showed him the door.

* * *

"So, you were saying about Chloe?" Beca mumbled as they recovered, her fingers caressing his hair as he rested his head on her shoulder.

"I was asking if you told her we hooked up the night we met at the mixer," he quietly said. She was pulling him back to sleep with what she was doing and it wasn't fair because he had to leave soon.

"I didn't tell her or anyone," she answered.

"I wonder if I told anyone." He closed his eyes, feeling her gently rub her finger against the scar on his head. "Although I don't think I have because I don't even have friends to tell," he chuckled humorlessly.

"Why don't you try to get in touch with those you were friends with?"

"I don't want to guilt anyone into becoming my friend." He shrugged. "When did I become so notorious that my friends stopped liking me, Beca?" he asked moments later.

"We were never close, dude. I don't know."

"Well, then when did you start to hate me?"

Beca silently stroked his scar for a few seconds as she gave it some thought. "I didn't just wake up one day and decided to hate you. But like five years ago, around the time your movies really started to suck."

Jesse let out a loaded breath at the mention of his movies.

"You showed up to Aiden's teacher-parent conference drunk and hit on his teacher, who mind you wasn't even interested. You made her uncomfortable. And started to get on my nerves."

"Oh, god." He grimaced. "I'm so sorry." Jesse nuzzled her neck.

She placed a peck on his forehead. "Jesse, it's six-fifty."

He enveloped her in his arms and buried his face in her hair, breathing her in. "Okay," he muttered, talking himself into pulling away.

Jesse got out of bed, grabbing his clothes from the floor and placing them on the bed.

"What?" he asked as he buckled his belt, feeling Beca's gaze.

"You have a serious case of sex hair," she told him as she climbed out of bed as well and proceeded to get dressed. "You just made it worse," she mumbled when he tried to comb it with his fingers.

She then tiptoed to try and to calm it herself. "Well that certainly made zero difference," she murmured.

He snorted and tilted his head enough to kiss the palm of her hand when she cupped his cheek. "I better head out." Jesse sighed.

Beca stepped away to wear her sweatpants then stepped outside her bedroom first and he followed her in tow.

"Last night was pretty awesome and so was just now," he was saying once he was outside the apartment and Beca was standing in the doorway. "I had a really great time." He leaned in for a kiss that ended up sooner than he would have liked.

"Me, too," Beca mumbled, pulling away. "Now, go."

Jesse nodded and turned on his heels, dreading the stairs he had to walk.

* * *

Jesse was in the process of perfecting his super healthy smoothie when Aiden entered the kitchen.

"Oh, perfect timing. Here, taste this and tell me what you think?" He poured a glass of smoothie for Aiden before he really looked at him. "You alright, buddy?" Jesse stepped closer to the boy who set the box of cereal and a bowl on the kitchen counter.

"Yeah," Aiden replied, clearing his throat when his voice came out raspy. "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," Jesse observed then reached to feel his temperature to find him boiling. "And you definitely don't feel fine."

"It's probably a cold. I'll be fine." He took the glass from his father and brought it to his lips, chugging it down.

"It's fine, you know? We can go on a hike some other time."

They were supposed to go on a hike that they both looked forward to but it was clear to Jesse that they were going to postpone it due to Aiden's health.

"'Cause judging by your fever and sore throat alone, I'm pretty sure you caught the flu, buddy," Jesse apologetically said.

And, he was right.

Aiden's symptoms got worse so he took him to the hospital where a doctor confirmed the illness and prescribed the boy meds to fight it off.

* * *

Jesse left Beca a text to let her know about Aiden falling ill and wasn't surprised when she drove straight from work to his place to check up on their son.

"Hey," he greeted, keeping his tone casual.

Last time he'd seen her was the morning after they found out they were having a girl which was a week ago.

He missed her a lot but knew better than to contact her. She needed space to make up her mind and he wasn't going to try and win her over or something. He decided that the best thing he could do was lay off and wait for her to make the first move.

"Hey," she retorted, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Aiden is in his room, asleep." He locked the door behind her. "I'm gonna wake him up for his night dose of meds the minute dinner is ready." He was following her inside the house as he talked. "I'm making him soup."

"Soup is great," she said in response as she stopped walking once she was standing in front of the staircase.

"Go ahead, if you want." He gestured at the stairs. "I'm gonna go check on dinner."

"Okay, cool," she mumbled before she began making her way up the stairs.

Jesse sighed watching her walk up the stairs then shook his head at the strange awkwardness that filled the room.

"Leaving already?" he asked when Beca stopped by the kitchen ten minutes later.

"No, I'm gonna stay until Aiden wakes up for dinner," she told him. "For how long has he been asleep?"

"A couple of hours," he answered not looking up from the book he had in his hand.

"What's that you're reading?" she asked next.

He placed a bookmark before setting the book on the kitchen island. "A detective thriller. It's pretty gory. If you're into that I highly recommend this."

"Nope," she was quick to reply. "Not into gory thrillers of any sorts."

She crossed her arms and looked around the kitchen as an awkward silence fell in the room.

"Beca," he called, unable to stand the awkwardness anymore. "I wasn't gonna say anything until you did first but I can't stand this. We slept together and it was pretty awesome but if I knew things would become this awkward between us I wouldn't have done it." The look of discomfort on her face told him that she didn't expect him to bring their hookup up. "I don't regret it, though. And if that's the case with you, you shouldn't beat yourself up about it: we're both pent up and needed a release."

"I don't regret it," she mumbled as she eyed the floor. "I just need some time to figure things out," she sighed, looking up to meet his gaze. "I feel bad for leaving you hanging."

"Please, don't feel bad about that." He got up. "I understand that you need time. And, as I said before: I'm cool with whatever you decide. So, yeah, don't feel bad."

He thought about going for a hug then dismissed it and rested his hand on the kitchen island.

"I really needed to hear that, thanks," she smiled at him.

"Of course," he smiled back. "So, how was your day?" he asked, changing the subject before it got awkward again.

"Okay," she shrugged. "Mom emailed me back so there's that."

"What did she say?"

"You know, classic motherly stuff like asking me if I'm ever gonna have a kid on purpose," she deadpanned and he felt bad for chuckling.

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine." She waved it off. "What about you how was your day?" she wondered.

"Same old same old," he replied. "Almost done with that novel, though."

"Well, are you doing anything for Thanksgiving?" she questioned to keep the conversation going.

"I'm thinking about binge-watching every Thanksgiving episode on friends," he shared his plans with her. "Jeez, saying it out loud makes it sound pretty sad."

"Because it is. If you don't want to get in touch with your old friends make new friends. This isn't like you, man."

"How do you know what I was like? You said we were never close before and have mentioned on several occasions that I was a piece of shit that you hated."

"You had friends. Were they good or bad, I don't know. But you had friends."

"Friends that I pushed away. I can't push my friends away if I don't have them, now can I?"

"Oh my god," she quietly said. "Is this what it's about? You're afraid you'd end up ruining your friendships?" she realized.

He didn't say anything back so she took his silence for yes.

"Dude." She stepped closer to him. "You can't think like that. You're right, I don't know what you were like, you acted like a dick most of the time but I didn't really know you that well. I do know you now and I like to think of you as a friend. A really good friend."

"That's it, I'm going for it."

"What?" Beca arched an eyebrow in confusion then got what he meant when he pulled her into a hug.

"Hey, you're welcome to join us for Thanksgiving," she said, pulling away. "Dad and Sheila are coming. Well, Sheila has some work thing in L.A. around Thanksgiving and Dad will be tagging along."

"Thank you. I'd love to come."

"Sure, man."

"Does your dad hate me?" he asked on second thought.

"No," she answered.

"Cool. I'll bring dessert."

* * *

Jesse was very nervous. He knew he had no reason to feel nervous meeting Beca's father and stepmother but he really was.

"Working on anything new, Jesse?" Dr. Mitchell asked as they dined.

"Nope. I've been focusing on my health ever since the surgery," Jesse answered.

The older man nodded at his response before he looked behind him. "What happened?" he puzzled as Jesse tilted his head to find a soaked Beca patting her face with a towel.

"The faucet in the bathroom happened," she replied. "It busted."

"Are you okay?" Sheila worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I need to go change."

"What about the bathroom?" Jesse questioned.

"Yeah, is it like flooded now?" Aiden added.

"No. The floor is a little wet but I stopped the water flow before it got messy," she said in response. "I'll call a plumber tomorrow to fix the faucet."

"Oh, I can take care of it, if you want," Jesse offered which earned him a puzzled look from Beca.

"You're a plumber now?"

"No, but my dad was one and I picked up a few things from him growing up."

"Thanks, dude."

"Sure," he smiled at her and watched her walk away before he shifted his attention back to the plate in front of him.

As the night progressed, Jesse felt less nervous. (It might have been the few drinks he had that help calm his nerves.) He and Dr. Mitchell had a lot in common, like their interest in detective thriller novels. Their shared interest sparked Aiden's interest in the thriller genre.

It was nice.

He had a good time, a much better time than he would have if he stuck to his original plans and watched friends on Thanksgiving.

"Okay." He heard Beca mumbled as he hugged tighter than she thought he would before he left.

"I'm very thankful for this evening," he said, pulling away. "I had a lot of fun. Thank you for inviting me."

"Of course, man. Couldn't let you spend Thanksgiving alone." She shrugged.

"Um, I'll come back tomorrow to change the faucet," he said as he unlocked the door.

"Thanks for that. I really don't know any plumbers and I doubt I'd find one working over the holidays."

"I'm glad I could help. And, I'm also glad your landlord finally fixed the elevator," he gestured at the elevator, stepping outside of the apartment before he did/said something stupid. "Hopefully, it doesn't break down again anytime soon."

She leaned against the doorway smiling at him.

"Thank you for dinner and see you tomorrow."

"G'night," she replied and locked the door once he was out of sight.

* * *

"Late night snack?" Dr. Mitchell said, spotting his daughter in the process of filling his mouth with pie.

She nodded swallowing.

He rubbed her back before he grabbed a glass from the cupboard to drink water in.

"Oh, so this is why Swanson brought two pies," he chuckled in realization. "One for dessert and for your late night snacking."

She nodded, bringing her glass of milk to wash down the pie. "Want some?"

"Sure," he replied, grabbing a fork and taking a small piece of the pie. "This pie is outstanding!"

"I know," she agreed.

"What did this delicious pie do to you to deserve all this stabbing?" He placed the fork down while eyeing his daughter. "Is everything okay, Becs?"

She was quiet for a few seconds before she replied. "It's just that I can't make up my mind about something and it's really bothering me."

"Wanna talk about it?" He sat down on the stool next to her.

She blew a breath, sorting out her thoughts before she spoke. "Jesse asked me out and I haven't given him an answer yet."

"Huh. And, why is so hard to make up your mind?" he questioned.

"It's weird with him. He's really different from the Jesse I've known before he lost his memory."

"Different how?"

"He changed. He's not as annoying as he used to be." She figured her father didn't have to know everything that she disliked about Jesse.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Yeah, of course, it's a good thing." She exhaled before she stuffed her mouth with more pie.

"So, you're indecisive because he's different? That's it?" It didn't really make much sense to him and could tell that there's more.

"Well, no. Not exactly." She set the fork down as she ran her fingers through her hair. "The thing is I've liked him even before his memory loss. It's just that the things I disliked about him made it easier to keep him at arm's length."

"And why do you feel the need to _keep him_ at arm's length?"

"Because I've never really _not_ kept a dude I liked/dated at arm's length." She shrugged. "And that usually results in them leaving which totally understandable."

She never got into a relationship with a man expecting it to last so that when it ended she didn't feel hurt.

Dr. Mitchell began rubbing her back when she let out a heavy breath.

"I can't fuck things up with Jesse. He's part of my life which is why we're better off not getting involved."

"Not getting involved is a safe option but it is also very unfair."

She nodded her head, agreeing with him.

"Your previous relationships failed because you had one foot out of the door the whole time," he noted. "I won't sit here and preach to you about relationships because I messed up plenty of times myself." He clicked his tongue. "But what I can and will say is that when the right person came along I worked really hard to make it work. I'm certain that you will, too."

"How do I know he's the right person?"

"Oh, you'll know," he said in amusement to which she narrowed her eyes.

"Pretty cryptic answer that does not help at all," she deadpanned and he laughed in response. "Thanks, Dad," she then added. "You give pretty decent relationship advice, I guess."

He threw his arm around her and pulled her into his embrace, placing a peck on her forehead.

* * *

"Where's everyone?" Jesse asked as Beca let him into the apartment and realized that it was just Beca.

"Sightseeing. Dad has only been to L.A. once and never visited touristic attractions. Aiden is showing him and Sheila around." He placed the kit and plastic bag he'd been holding on the coffee table to take off his jacket.

"And you didn't tag along because?" He handed her his jacket once she offered to take it from him.

"I have no interest in visiting overcrowded places on my days off." She hung the jacket as she spoke.

"So, this shouldn't take long," he was saying as he headed to the bathroom, holding a kit full of the necessary equipment in one hand and a bag in the other that Beca assumed had the new faucet.

"Do I get you anything?" she asked, standing in the bathroom doorway.

"Nope, I'm good."

"Well, call me if you need anything."

"Okay," he replied, his eyes on the kit he just opened.

* * *

She was sitting by the kitchen counter on her laptop when he stepped out of the bathroom. "You're done already?"

"Yup." He nodded. "Also fixed the dripping showerhead."

"Thanks." She frowned once she got a good look at him. "What happened?" His shirt was soaked wet.

"A little mishap with the showerhead." He waved it off as she got up from her seat.

"I'll go get you something to change into," she told him as she made her way to Aiden's bedroom.

"Here. This should fit." She tossed him a sweatshirt that belonged to Aiden then watched him out of the corner of her eye as he changed. Oddly enough, she didn't feel like a creep at all.

"What's up with your shoulder?" she couldn't help but ask, noting the careful way he pulled his t-shirt over his head and not missing the slight swelling.

"I worked out too hard this morning. My muscles and especially my shoulder aren't used to hardcore workout." He tried to rotate his shoulder and she could see his discomfort.

"Well, be careful or you might end up _really _hurting yourself."

He nodded in response. "I didn't know Aiden and I are the same size," he mumbled, extending his arms to see if it fit him well and it did. "When I was fifteen I did _not _wear this size."

"Aiden takes after Dad." She shrugged. "He also probably works out more than you did when you were his age."

"You think Rosalie would take after you buildwise?" he wondered.

"I hope not." She sat down on the stool facing her laptop.

"Why?"

"Why would I want for my child a lifetime supply of hobbit jokes?" she deadpanned.

He laughed. "Oh, come on, being small can't be that bad."

"No, it really sucks."

"Shopping for Rosalie," he noted, peeking his head to look at the screen of her laptop.

"Yep." She looked up from her laptop. "How much do I owe you?"

"Nothing. It's my Thanksgiving present to you."

"There's no such thing as a Thanksgiving present."

"Every holiday is an occasion to give presents. Come on everybody knows that."

She found herself rolling her eyes at him. "Fine," she sighed, surprisingly giving in.

"Okay, you didn't fight me until you got it your way. And, that worries me, is everything okay?" He sat down next to her.

"Not really," she admitted and was quiet for a few seconds.

"Wanna talk about it?" he said, offering to listen.

She shook her head.

"Okay." He was bummed out that she wouldn't talk to him about what was bothering her but he respected her wishes and wasn't going to push it. "Yesterday as soon as I got home, I looked up the novels your dad suggested I read on Amazon and somehow I ended up looking at baby's clothes," he shared with her. "Resisting the urge to buy every single outfit I saw was one of the hardest things I've ever done."

"I feel you," she chuckled. "I can't decide what to keep and what to remove from the cart." She showed him what's in the cart.

He leaned closer to get a better view of the screen. "Ugh, they're so cute."

If she was expecting him to help out, she was sorely wrong because he wanted to add more stuff.

"Please, these are on me," Jesse said before she could validate the purchase and noticed her clear discomfort.

He doubted he'll ever understand why she was so weird about money.

"Jesse," she called as he typed his credit card information.

"Uh-huh."

"If we give it a shot and it gets serious, can you promise me that you won't try to fix everything with money?" she asked.

He stopped typing to look at her.

"You want me to just sit and watch as you overwork yourself to make ends meet and not do anything about it?"

"Well, no. I expect support from you just not a financial one."

He sucked in a breath before he said, "Alright, weirdo. If that's what you want then be it."

"Also, Aiden. I don't want him to know about us _unless_ it gets serious. He's a teenager and no matter what he'll say I know he'll get ideas and want a normal family, especially with his sister on the way." She blew a breath. "I don't want him to set any expectations unless things between us do become serious," she explained.

"Makes total sense," he nodded, agreeing with her.

"I'm glad you agree," she said, sounding very relieved yet still somehow anxious.

"Of course." He understood why she worried. If things end badly between them, they'll still have to be in each other's lives. "Any other conditions?"

"No, you?"

He shook his head. "Nope."

"I guess, you should know that I'm not really good at dating," she then said.

"What do you mean?" he puzzled.

"I never went into a relationship expecting it to work and unsurprisingly they never worked out. Are you sure you wanna do this?"

"Oh yeah, a hundred percent sure," he replied, nodding. "Are you?"

"I'm as sure as I'll ever be," she sounded very reluctant as she spoke.

Given what she told him about her track record, he could understand why she was unsure.

So, no, he wasn't mad nor bummed out that she felt that way.

Jesse smiled her at her then reached for her hand that was clenched in a fist, interlocking their fingers when she unclenched her hand. His smile grew when she hesitantly leaned in. He met her halfway, kissing her. She cupped his cheek with her free hand deepening the kiss and stealing his breath away.

Jesse was grinning like an idiot when she pulled away, completely smitten with her.

* * *

**AN:** if you were expecting a climactic type of scene when they get together I would like to apologize for the letdown. Would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter. Thank you for spending a few minutes of your day with my story.


	9. Chapter 9

Jesse would spend all of his time with Beca if he could because he enjoyed her company so much and so did she but they couldn't exactly do that when they were keeping their relationship a secret from their son.

Jesse made sure to park a few blocks away just to be extra careful, then waited until Beca texted him before he went into her apartment complex.

"Hey," she greeted, kissing him as soon as she let him into the apartment.

He dropped the duffle bag he was holding to wrap his arms around her as they kissed.

She pulled away gasping for air and while she caught her breath, Jesse buried his face in her neck as they walked backward in the direction of her bedroom.

* * *

"What are you thinking about?" Beca asked, noting how lost in thought Jesse was as she ran her fingertips over the scar on his head.

"I've been planning the weekend ever since you told me Aiden was spending it at his friend's house, I'm trying to think of how to fit the stuff I had planned for the time we've spent in bed. Because _this _wasn't part of the plan."

"Nerd," she snorted.

He shrugged in response.

"What did you have planned for us?" she asked.

"Well, I brought a movie to watch."

"Dodged a bullet there," she murmured and received a pointed look. "Come on, I know it's your passion to make movies and no offense but they're a waste of time. This, though, is pretty productive: a lot of cardio and dopamine."

"No, they aren't. Take that back," he told her, pretending to take offense.

"No, I won't."

"Well, you will once I show you the magic of movies."

"Wait. Magic? Are you talking about Magic Mike?"

"I don't even know Magic Mike. What's it about?"

"Male strippers." She was very amused by the surprised look on Jesse's face.

"Okay," he slowly said.

"And let's just say that the makers know their target audience and they deliver pretty well."

"Gross."

"I'm kidding. Magic Mike did what Showgirls failed to do actually. It tells a pretty compelling story about the struggles of exotic dancers."

"Hold on, you've seen Showgirls?" He rested his weight on his elbow.

"It's basically porn, a really bad one that is, of course, I've seen it. It was very confusing. Not what I expected as a very curious sixteen-year-old with zero sexual experience."

"That sex scene in the pool," he recalled.

She made a face thinking about it, "I was worried about her getting an infection from fucking in the water during that scene."

He chuckled, "you and me, both."

"As awful as it is, I'm down to watch Showgirls if you want."

"Well, I'm more tempted to watch Magic Mike. Not now, though…" he trailed off when she wrapped an arm around his shoulder, pulling him closer. "Because we're watching His Girl Friday." He placed a small peck on the tip of her nose.

He picked a comedy because Beca had one of the sweetest laughs he ever heard and he wasn't funny enough to make jokes that really cracked her up— she'd call him corny if she knew that's why he picked it.

"Are you kidding me right now?" she grumbled when he sat up.

"Nope. We're a little behind but we can still manage to do everything I have planned." He gave her serious puppy dog eyes when she continued to look at him in disbelief.

She sighed, "Fine. Let's watch your stupid movie."

He smiled and pushed the duvet aside. "I'll be right back." He got up and went retrieve his duffle bag in which he brought everything he needed for the weekend.

* * *

For dinner, Jesse cooked the new recipe he learned in the advanced cooking class he was taking. As for dessert, he made his infamous apple pie that Beca liked a lot.

He also made sure the room was candle lit and even placed decorative flowers on the table as well as a fancy tablecloth, which he may or may not have purchased specifically for the occasion.

"Did you hurt your shoulder again?" she asked, noting the way Jesse kept rubbing his shoulder in discomfort.

"Yeah." He nodded. "I should probably lay off benching for a while."

"Yeah, _probably_." She took a sip of water before adding, "I don't even get why you work out so much you end up hurting yourself."

"I don't know," he shrugged, looking down at his plate. "Exercising makes me feel alive so I get carried away sometimes with how good it is to feel alive, as lame as that sounds."

"It's not lame," she said, flashing him a sympathetic smile. "But you will end up straining your muscles if you continue to overwork yourself, so maybe don't listen to Rocky's soundtrack and get as pumped as Rocky in his training montages when you work out," she deadpanned, getting him to smile at the mention of one of the best-scored movies of all times according to him.

"For someone that considered making a sandwich cooking not too long ago, this is an unbelievable improvement. Like, if I wasn't here the whole time you made dinner, I wouldn't believe you actually made this. This is really good, I'm talking fancy restaurant good," she said, complimenting his cooking chops.

"Thanks, Becs." His smile grew bigger as she stuffed her mouth with more food. "I plan to cook you all the fancy meals I learn so get ready because you will be experiencing intense foodgasms."

"I'm totally gonna get so fat that I won't be able to fit through the door," she sighed.

"You won't get fat, you're eating for two, Beca," he reasoned. "I'm gonna make sure you get all the nutrition your body needs." She took care of him when he was in recovery it was his turn to take care of her.

"And get me super fat in the process," she added. "I mean, I'm whealing up already. Got all these amazingly gross new stretch marks... I shouldn't be talking about this while we're eating, sorry." She shook her head.

"No, it's a completely fine subject," he disagreed. "You gained a _healthy_ amount of weight and you can't really help eating a lot, that's just how your body is wired." He shrugged. "As for the stretch marks, aren't there creams to help with that?"

"Yeah, I know," she sighed. "I just wanted to complain about it."

"Oh, well then, I'm sorry. Go ahead and continue. I'm all ears."

And, she did. She told him all about her skin that itched a lot as it stretched, her back pain, her feet that were starting to get swollen and plenty of other things. He lost track at some point and just felt bad that she had to go through so much discomfort.

"That really _really _sucks," he said once she was done ranting which was around the time he finished washing the dishes they ate in.

"I know. Why is bringing a life into this world so hard? And more importantly, why do people do this voluntarily?" Her second question made him chuckle because of how genuinely puzzled she was.

"They have to, otherwise we would go extinct… can't count on unplanned pregnancies, ya know?"

"I guess." She took a sip of water to wash down the pie she just ate then picked up both the glass and plate and walked to the sink.

"No, I got these," she said when he tried to take them from her.

He stepped back, letting her stand in front of the sink, and dried his hands before wrapping them around her waist.

Jesse placed a peck on her temple then on her cheek, before he rested his chin on her shoulder. "Would you look at that." He looked at the time on his watch as she dried her hands. "Looks like it's make-Beca-feel-amazing o'clock." He kept a straight face while she rolled her eyes at him.

"You're such a dork," she said as he leaned in, kissing her. He didn't waste time, picking her up bridal style and swallowing the pain that shot from his shoulder.

He sat her in the middle of the bed and climbed on top of her, pressing his lips against hers as he ran his hand up her torso.

She pulled away first, cupping his cheek as she caught her breath. He kissed his way to her neck and distanced himself briefly to take off his t-shirt when she tugged at it.

"You're making dad noises," Beca mumbled, resting her weight on her elbows as she eyed Jesse.

"I'm what?" he puzzled, tossing his t-shirt on the floor.

"Grunting when you move a muscle. It's your shoulder, isn't it?"

He nodded, "But it's not so bad." He lowered himself.

"I'm sorry," she said, placing her hand on the back of his neck.

"Honestly, it's nothing. You're the one that has to deal with the pains of pregnancy twenty-four seven. I just hurt my shoulder working out."

"I'm sorry you feel the way you do that you work out so hard you hurt yourself. And I'm sorry that I don't know how to help make you feel better."

He smiled at her sadly, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"You know, what was my first thought when my tests and scans came back clean?" he rhetorically asked. "I told myself that for the next two years my scans could very much not come back clean and that feeling relieved wasn't an option. I lucked out once, odds can't always be in my favor, you know?" he chuckled humorlessly. "And I can't really control any of this. Which is why I feel the need to work out really hard and be healthy to at least lower risk factors. It's as close as I'll get to feeling relieved."

She pulled him in a hug and he had to rest his weight on his elbow mindful of her belly between them. He could hear her sniffle and it made him felt like shit.

"I totally killed the mood," he sighed to which she shook her head.

"No, it's just hormones," she explained, placing a kiss on his cheek.

He smiled at her pulling his head back and wiped the tears that fell on her cheeks.

"I'll be right back," she mumbled, sitting up.

"Okay." He moved aside so that she could climb out of bed and watched her walk out of the room.

"Aiden uses this when his muscles ache from practice," she was telling him as she made her way back into the bedroom. "It should help ease the pain."

He very clearly told her that there wasn't anything she could do to help with how he dealt with his fear of getting sick again but that didn't mean she was going to try to figure it out herself.

He sat up as she climbed on the bed.

"Hey, Becs," he called as began to gently massage his shoulder with the cream. "Do we have a mutual friend named Stacie?" he wondered.

"I have a friend named Stacie, I don't know if you're friends with her."

"Well, we might not be friends per se."

"What do you mean?"

"I think we hooked up from time to time. She texted me telling me that she's in town and asking if I wanted to hang out. I looked at our texts and we never really had a conversation: it's just telling each other we're available to _hang out_."

"For how long has this been going?"

"I'm not sure. My phone is on the nightstand, see for yourself." He told her.

She stopped massaging his shoulder briefly to get his phone, and as she unlocked the cellular device, she gently pressed her hand against the skin of his shoulder rubbing it.

"You and Stacie, who would have thought," she mumbled, scrolling through his texts with her friend who she recalled her number—who wouldn't remember a phone number that had 69 three times. "Oh, wow, this goes back to twenty-sixteen." The texts would have months between them over the course of three years and were exactly what Jesse said.

"So, it is a mutual friend."

"I guess," she thoughtfully said as she placed his cellphone back on the nightstand. "You haven't replied."

"I don't remember her."

"It doesn't look like it matters that you know each other."

"Wait, do you want me to hook up with Stacie?"

"She's really hot."

"That's not an answer."

"Dude, not because we're seeing each other you can't see other people."

He tilted his head to look at her. "I don't wanna see other people."

She avoided looking at him and busied herself by rubbing his shoulder. "Are you seeing other people, Becs?" His throat dried up as he got the words out and he knew exactly why: his feelings were growing and the thought of Beca with someone else didn't sit well with him.

"Other people," she snorted. "Dude, I'm seven months pregnant, who in their right mind would want anything to do with me?" she wondered. "You don't count because it's your baby that is growing inside of me," she added.

"That's your opinion, you can't speak for everyone."

"True," she agreed. "Is there another muscle that hurts?" she asked.

"No, just my shoulder," he replied. "Is it supposed to feel cold?" He rotated his shoulder without wincing.

"Yeah. That means it's working."

"Thanks, Becs." He smiled when she placed a peck on his temple. "You know what? On second thought, I do have another muscle that could use some massaging," he said.

"Which one?" She picked up the tube as he turned around to face her and patted his chest.

She rolled her eyes putting the tube on the nightstand. "Sure, weirdo."

He laid on his back and watched her carefully climb on top of him, humoring him by massaging his chest.

"So, how do you know Stacie?" he wondered.

"We went to College together. She's an actress, so I'm not surprised you two are in each other's lives."

"I watched my movies, there's no actress named Stacie in any of them. How come I never heard of her?" Fat Amy and Chloe were Beca's closest friends and they went to college with her too.

"She's always away filming. I barely see her." Beca shrugged. "She was actually my roommate for several of years after I moved here."

"You lost touch after she got big in the industry?"

"No, we're still friends. I just don't see that much. She's coming to the baby shower," she shared with him. "And, she's really good in bed. I wouldn't pass on this if I were you."

"Stop trying to talk me into hooking up with your friend. I not going to do it. Also, how do you know she's good in bed?" He arched an eyebrow.

"I'm not trying to talk you into hooking up with her. I'm just saying you shouldn't dismiss it." She shrugged.

"I don't care if she's Aphrodite herself. I'm only interested in you, Beca." He tried to read her expression and it was impossible to read. "You don't believe that, do you?" he guessed.

"It's not that," she finally said, meeting his gaze.

"Then what is it?"

She was quiet for quite some time.

"I never got this far with a guy before."

"What? Sitting on top of them while you give them a surprisingly soothing chest massage?" She rolled her eyes at his words.

"Look, me only interested in you doesn't mean you have to be only interested in me. I'd be lying if I said that I'm cool with that but you do you, Becs. I won't be a dick about you seeing other people. I mean, I think things are going really well but we're both adults here. So, yeah." He cleared his throat, seriously hating how dry it got. "It's fine."

She looked at him thoughtfully as a frown formed between her eyes. "I don't think I'd be cool with you seeing someone else either," she admitted.

"Then why do you want me to hook up with your friend?" He watched carefully get off of him and sat up.

"I never got this far with anyone before," she repeated. "And honestly, it's kinda freaking me out now that I think about it." She ran her fingers through her hair. "Dude, I'm not used to feeling possessive. I don't do that. Besides, we've been seeing each other for barely a month and a half."

"So you think if I slept with your friend you'd prove to yourself that you wouldn't mind that?" It didn't make sense at all.

"You know that's not how it works, right?" he checked. "You can't talk yourself into unfeeling things."

"I actually can. It's hard sometimes but it's doable."

"Of course." He forgot whom he was talking to. "Well, I'm not going to sleep with your friend or anyone but _you_ because honestly you're extremely good in bed and I really _really_ like you."

"I really like you, too," she awkwardly said.

"We don't have to label things, Becs." Knowing she only wanted to be with him and didn't want him to see other people was enough for him. "I'm so glad that you're letting me in and letting yourself _get this far. _It's great. It's a milestone. We gotta celebrate."

"Calm down, dork. It's not that big of a deal."

"Oh, but it is, Becs." He scooted closer to her.

"Seriously, Jesse, it's not." She was freaking out and he was making it worse, he soon realized.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to freak you out even more."

"No, I'm sorry for even freaking out in the first place." She blew a breath. "I'm really bad at this."

"What? No, you're not. You're going through something new. These jitters are completely understandable."

"Yeah, that's a shitty excuse and you really shouldn't encourage this behavior. You don't have to put up with my shit just because I'm not used to feeling possessive of a guy."

"First of all, it's not being possessive," he corrected. "Second, you haven't done anything shitty. Third, you really are right it's not that big of a deal. I got too excited because I'm happy you genuinely care and want this to work."

"Of course, I care and want this to work." She frowned.

"You're not very talkative, how am I supposed to know?"

"You ask me, asshole." She nudged him. "Bad at dating, remember?"

He chuckled rubbing his shoulder, "I guess that makes us both bad at dating."

"Well, I do care… a lot," she told him, meeting his gaze.

"Hey, me too!" he exclaimed. "What are the odds?" His instinct was to make her roll her eyes at him when he could tell she's uncomfortable. "Is she kicking?" he asked, noting that she placed her hand on her belly.

"Yeah," she was saying as she reached for his hand and placed it under her t-shirt.

"You'd think that by now, I'd get used to this feeling but nope. It's still so surreal." Feeling Beca's gaze on him, Jesse looked up from her belly. "Does this feeling ever go away?"

She shook her head. "Not in my experience it doesn't."

He found himself leaning in to kiss her and smiled when she cupped his cheek pulling him closer.

* * *

"Beca?" Jesse called in a low voice to avoid waking Beca up if she had fallen asleep.

"Yes?" she answered, sleepily.

"Tell me how we met," he requested.

She turned around to face him, "I was arguing with my ex-boyfriend outside of a frat house where they were hosting a party. Drunk off your ass, you jumped in trying to play the hero."

He threw his arm around her, pulling her closer to him.

"You followed me around until I agreed to play beer pong with you that night, offering to do most of the drinking. I agreed but didn't let you drink all of the beer because I was worried you'd get alcohol poisoning and die."

"We must really suck at beer pong," he guessed. "Considering you got drunk enough to hook up with me."

"I had just broken things off with my boyfriend at the time and after a few drinks, some rebound sex sounded like a great idea. Besides you're not too bad on the eyes." She rubbed her thumb against his cheekbone, cupping his face. "I mean you're loud, sang a lot, _threw up_ a lot, and was weird at flirting but you were fun. I had fun." She leaned in and kissed him before she rested her head in the crook of his neck.

"I'm glad I was a decent distraction." He was quiet for a few seconds as he trailed the tattoos on her forearm, stopping at the prying Mantis. "Why a Mantis of all animals?"

"Because at first glance almost everyone dismisses it but it's actually a tiny deadly predator," she answered. "Did you know that female Mantises sometimes eat the male Mantises during and sometimes after they fertilize their eggs?"

"Jesus Christ, why?" he puzzled.

"For nutrition because it would be carrying like a hundred eggs at a time." She shrugged.

"So, in order for Mantises to procreate the mama Mantis has to eat the dad?"

"Well, there's no _one_ dad. Any male Mantis that tries their luck when she's hungry might get eaten alive."

"Okay, that's frightening."

"These animals wouldn't survive the fall cold nights. I don't know about you but I think that getting eaten after having sex seems like a better way to go than to freeze to death."

"Female Mantises sound like real commitment-phobes, eating any potential partner…" He placed a kiss on her head. "Why do you know so much about Mantises?"

"One time, at a party when I was sixteen this stoner told me all about them as we watched a porno together. I thought female Mantises are badass and went and got one tattooed on my arm."

"Porno at a party? Didn't know watching pornos is a social event. But you did say he's stoned. Were you stoned, too?"

"No, I didn't really drink or do drugs growing up. And, no it's not a social event, I was actually hiding out because I didn't really fit in well and the friend that dragged me to the party disappeared. I found _her_ chilling in one of the rooms."

"I'm sorry for assuming her gender, girls can be very much stoners," he apologized. "Was she, you know, touching herself when you walked in?"

"No. See she was watching a heterosexual porno in an attempt to convince herself that she wasn't into girls."

"Oh. Okay. Why talk about Mantises while watching a porno, though?" he was very confused and curious.

"Well, the chick in the porno was pretty aggressive, I joked about how she seemed like she going to suck the life of the poor guy through his dick and this girl mentioned the fun trivia about Female Mantises."

"Does this story end with you two getting it on?" he asked and could feel her smiling against his neck.

"Wouldn't you wanna know."

"Yeah, I do. I'm curious."

She pulled her head back to kiss him. "Today has been _really_ great," she mumbled pulling away. "Thank you."

He wanted to tell her that every day could like today if they told Aiden but knew how unlikely that she'd be on board with that just yet.

They'd been seeing each other for a month and a half and things were great between them. He wasn't seeing anyone else, had no interest anyone else, and knew it was the same case with her so technically they were exclusive but she didn't want to label things yet and he was okay with that.

He held her close to him as she snuggled up to him. "You're not gonna tell me if you hooked up with that girl, are you?"

"Nope," she answered and he could hear the amusement in her voice. "Goodnight, Jesse. Enjoy having dreams about me and another girl."

He scoffed, "I certainly won't have dreams about two _teenage girls_ hooking up. What's wrong with you?" he questioned in mock offense.

She chuckled in response. "A lot."

Despite her light tone, he knew she wasn't joking. "Night, Becs," he mumbled, placing a peck on her forehead.

* * *

**AN: **Thank you for spending a few minutes of your day with my story. I hope this chapter entertained you. Feel free to tell me what you thought. I'm all for constructive criticism.


	10. Chapter 10

Stacie was grabbing a drink from the refreshment table when she spotted her friend Chloe who was openly staring at someone. She followed her gaze to see what caught her friend's attention and sighed. "Don't do it, Red," she said, walking towards her friend.

"Huh?" Chloe barely glanced at Stacie when she stood next to her.

"Don't play matchmaker with Beca and her baby daddy," Stacie elaborated. "It's like Déja vù, isn't it?" she added, eyeing Beca who was currently rolling her eyes at something Jesse told her.

"Totes," Chloe mumbled. "I feel secondhand regret for the two of them, is that normal?"

"Nope," Stacie answered, taking a sip from her drink.

"They very clearly liked each other and could have made it work," Chloe sighed.

"Like," Stacie curtly said causing Chloe to frown. "They like each other."

"Did Beca tell you something?" Chloe arched an eyebrow.

"Nope, but look at their body language. They're definitely sleeping together."

Chloe tried to see what would make Stacie make such claim and saw nothing. "You think so?" she doubted.

"I know so. Trust me, I have a like a six sense for this sort of thing. It's how I steer clear from unfaithful assholes looking for some fun on the side," she explained.

"Oh. My. God."

"Relax, it could be just sex. You've had kids, you know how horny pregnancy makes you," Stacie reasoned.

"Beca wouldn't do that," Chloe confidently said. "Not with Jesse. She's too anxious about how everything she does affects Aiden to pull something like this."

Stacie smirked, pulling her cellphone. "I have an idea that would settle this."

"What are you doing?" Chloe asked.

"Uh, finding out if Beca is dating her baby daddy before you walk up to them ask them yourself." She winked and Chloe followed her gaze to see whom the wink was to: it was Jesse and his expression was unreadable as he looked up from his phone to meet Stacie's gaze.

He typed something on his phone before he shoved it in his pocket then said something to Beca who nodded. Meanwhile Stacie's phone chimed with a text. "See you in a minute, Chloe." She walked away from her friend and towards the backyard.

Chloe watched as Jesse followed Stacie and knew better than to follow them.

"Why the hell did you send that?" Jesse calmly asked.

"I needed an opinion," Stacie casually said, playing dumb.

"Don't you ever send me inappropriate pictures of yourself again."

"Inappropriate pictures," she snorted. "It's a nude photo, Jesse. Don't be such a prude. God, you were so much fun before."

"Yeah, well, I'm not like that anymore. And, I don't remember you."

"You can't remember the best sex you've ever had in your life." She took a sip from her drink. "Such a shame," she sighed, stepping closer to him. "Just thinking about how much fun we used to have is turning me on," she made sure the tone of her voice was on point as she checked him out. She didn't miss how uncomfortable she made him which wasn't the reaction that she'd usually elicit from men.

In Stacie's books, it usually meant that the man in question was a faithful man.

Still, she had to be sure so she placed her hand against his chest, before she slid it down. "I'm sure no one will miss us if we disappear-"

He stepped back, stilling her hand before it went any lower then removing it. "I'm not interested," he curtly said, his expression hardening, as he crossed his arms across his chest. "I thought I made myself clear in the voicemail I left you."

He did. And she very much respected that.

They had sex sometimes and it was fun. They didn't have kind of emotional connection. It was casual and very fun sex.

"Suit yourself." She shrugged, pulling her hand back. "But if you ever change your mind, you know where to find me." She smiled at him. "Well, I guess you wouldn't since you don't remember where I live given the whole amnesia thing... I guess, just text me and we'll go from there."

"I won't."

She cracked a smile at him before walking past him.

Jesse blew a breath, retrieving his phone to delete the picture from his chat with Stacie.

"Jesse?" He couldn't help but smile when he heard Beca's voice.

"Yeah?" he placed his phone in his pocket as he tilted his head to find Beca standing by the door.

"Everything alright?" she asked.

He was going to bring up what just happened just not now. "Yeah." His smile got replaced with a grin once he noticed the hat she had on.

"Don't," she grumbled.

"I can't believe you wore it." He really liked the cute stegosaurus illustration that had a speech bubble near it saying, "I'm preggosaurus."

"Yeah, well, Chloe wouldn't stop harassing me until I wore it." She shook her head.

"It's adorable." He adjusted it so he could see her face better.

"You can have it, if you like it so much."

"No, I couldn't. I'm not preggosaurus, it wouldn't make sense," he reasoned.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Come on, I actually wore this because Chloe promised she'd leave me alone if we took a picture with her wearing it."

"I'll take it." He held up the camera that was hanging around his neck.

"That's why I came looking for you."

Chloe planned the baby shower and he offered to document it.

She looked down at his hand that was brushing against hers and ignored the itch to reach for it. "Come on, the sooner we take the damn picture the sooner she'd leave me alone."

* * *

Jesse didn't know what to expect from a baby shower organized by Chloe. What he did know was that she's the right person for the job.

The theme was interesting; garden like. It was flowers heavy but it wasn't too much. It was aesthetically pleasing.

He was admiring a flower arrangement when he heard a voice behind him say, "You like it?"

"It's beautiful," he replied, glancing at Chloe. "You did this yourself?"

"I wish I was this talented. It's actually Aubrey that made this," the redhead informed.

He didn't really know Aubrey, or anyone _really_, but he would have never guessed she's done the arrangement.

"Come stand here, Chloe." The shade of pink her dress was a few shades paler than that of the flowers, a picture of her standing right in front of them crossed his mind so he went for it.

He took a few steps back to for better framing and angle and snapped a picture.

Jesse then showed the redhead the picture he took to see if she liked it and she did.

"So," Chloe began to say, "How are things going with Beca?"

He was confused but didn't show it: Beca made it clear that she didn't want her friends to know until Aiden knew, he didn't mind because he didn't have anyone to tell really.

"Okay," he answered.

"Excuse Chloe for her poor phrasing of the question," Fat Amy who he didn't realize was standing on his other side said, startling him. "What she meant to say is that we know about you and Beca and plan to castrate you if your intentions with her are on the iffy side."

"Iffy side?" he echoed

"Yeah, you know, hump and dump kinda deal," the aussie explained.

"No," he firmly said. "It's not like that at all." He paused. "Did Beca say something?" he worried, lowering his voice.

"Told you," a third voice said causing Jesse to look up and find none other than Stacie standing right next to Chloe.

"I can't believe she didn't tell us," Chloe grumbled while Stacie patted her shoulder.

"What the hell is happening right now," he mumbled extremely confused.

"We lied. We didn't know. But you confirmed our suspicion," Fat Amy explained.

"Why didn't she tell us?" Chloe sounded genuinely hurt by her friend's decision.

"We wanted Aiden to know first," Jesse told her, rubbing the back of his neck. "How did you figure it out?" He and Beca were very careful—too careful.

"Eh." Stacie took a sip from her glass of champagne. "It wasn't hard to put two and two together."

"How long have you been together?" Chloe asked.

Jesse tilted his head to look for Beca and spotted her, she frowned as soon as their eyes met and began making her way towards them.

"What is going on here?" she asked upon reaching them.

"Nothing," Stacie answered before Chloe could say anything. "We're just looking at the flower arrangement."

"Yeah, Aubrey did a phenomenal job," Fat Amy added.

Beca seemed very skeptic but nodded anyway.

"Yeah where is Aubrey?" Fat Amy wondered. "Not blowing chunks all over the bathroom, I hope," she added as an afterthought. "Aubrey stress vomits," she explained to Jesse.

"Right," Jesse mumbled.

"I should go check up on her," Chloe said upon the nudge she received from Fat Amy.

"I'll come with you," Stacie said, following Chloe.

"Jesse," Fat Amy called. "You've been taking pictures the whole time and aren't in any of them. Your spawn won't see your face on this day," she noted as she reached to pull the camera from around his neck. "Beca," she then nodded toward Jesse.

Beca stepped closer to Jesse who wrapped an arm around her waist casually. "Hold on," he then said as Amy brought the camera to her face.

Jesse grabbed a flower from the arrangement and placed it behind Beca's ear.

"Alright, smile for your daughter," Fat Amy grinned, taking the picture. "Oi, Aiden," she called then gestured for the boy to join them once he looked her way.

Aiden jogged the short distance. "What's up?" he asked through a mouthful of cake.

"We're taking a picture together," Jesse told him.

Aiden used the back of his hand to wipe his mouth then got closer to his parents, standing next to his mother.

"You still have some frosting on your cheek," Beca sighed, reaching to clean it herself with her thumb. "And take the stupid hat off," she added.

Jesse chuckled watching Aiden pull his head back so that she couldn't take it off herself. "We'll do one without it if you really want to. But I'm taking a picture with it." Like his father, he like the cap with the dinosaur and chose to wear it after his mother took it off.

"That's a keeper," Fat Amy announced after snapping the photo.

"Thanks, Amy," Jesse said, both for the photo and for not letting Beca know that they knew just yet.

The baby shower was a success and he didn't want anything to mess it up.

"Sure, mate."

"Aunt Amy, take another," Aiden said, flipping the cap so that the illustration wasn't visible, then threw his arm around his father's shoulder while resting his cheek against his mother's head.

Instead of looking at the camera, Jesse found himself staring Beca and Aiden and smiling at them.

He heard the camera when it went off and only then tilted his head. Fat Amy was kind enough to take another one.

* * *

_"Okay, be honest with me, Jesse,"_ Beca said and he could hear her smiling as she spoke. _"She's really hot."_

"Yup," he kept his answer short as he unlocked the door and entered his house.

They'd been on the phone for the past 30 minutes, she kept him company through the traffic jam he got stuck in on his way to his place.

_"Dude, don't make it weird. It's fine."_

"Oh really? Don't you think asking me if I thought your friend is hot is weird?"

_"Nope. Not to me,"_ she replied. _"Not because you think someone is bangable doesn't mean you're gonna go ahead and bang them,"_ she reasoned.

"I guess." He hopped on the couch and kicked off his shoes. "She's hot."

_"There you go. See that wasn't that hard."_ She paused. _"If this is gonna work, I want to tell you if I see an attractive person and I want you to share that with me, too."_

"Okay. Checking people out together. That's unusual but fun."

_"Yeah, it is."_ She paused for a few seconds. "_Are you home yet?_"

"Yup. I just did." He sat up and started his laptop that was on the coffee table to empty the memory card full of pictures from baby shower in its hard drive. "I'm gonna go through the pictures while I eat dinner," he informed. "I'll send them to you later."

_"Oh, there's no rush."_

"Chloe doesn't agree with you," he let her know. "She wants to print them as soon as possible and put them in a scrapbook. Which is why I'm gonna work on them tonight: fix the colors and light on photoshop and send them her way." He got up from the couch and began making his way to the kitchen to heat up dinner. "Amy and Stacie texted me telling me to hurry up and send them their photos, too."

_"I'm sorry you ended up doing a photoshoot for my friends,"_ she apologetically said.

"I had fun taking their photos." He cradled his cellphone between his shoulder and cheek to use both his hands placing the pot full of water on the stove. "I had fun today."

He really wanted to share what happened with her friends with her but she was in such a good mood and he didn't want to ruin that.

_"Me, too."_

"I'm sorry your mom didn't show up," he said next as he pulled the pasta sauce from the fridge to heat up while waiting for the water to boil.

_"Don't be. I wasn't expecting her to come."_

He didn't even know the woman and he really did not like her. "When was the last time you two spoke?" he wondered.

_"I don't know,"_ she blew breath. _"She replied to my text on Christmas, does that count?"_

He felt bad for her and couldn't really understand why the mother would treat her daughter so poorly.

"I wish there's something I could do." He straightened up, hearing the doorbell.

_"Thanks but there's nothing you or anyone could do. And that's fine. I mean it sucks but I'm cool with it, you know?"_ She wasn't cool with it and her voice gave how she really felt away.

"Is that the shower I hear running?" he asked unlocking the door.

_"Yup,"_ she confirmed. _"I'm waiting for the water to get warm before I get in."_

"I'll leave you to it," he mumbled eyeing who were at his doorstep. "Ladies," he said in puzzlement, removing his cellphone from his ear.

"We have some questions for you," Chloe said waggling her finger at him before she let herself in.

He let her as well as Stacie and Fat Amy through and closed the door.

"Okay," he slowly said.

"We want to know if you're serious about our friend," the redhead began to say. "Or if this is casual. And if it is casual, both of you agreed to it being like that. Also, why would you agree to keep it casual? Beca deserves more than that. She might not act like it but that doesn't mean she doesn't deserve it." She was speaking too fast and didn't give Jesse anytime to reflect on anything she was saying.

"You're not going to break her heart, are you?" Fat Amy questioned.

"No, I—"

"If you break her heart I'll break your dick!" Fat Amy continued, through gritted teeth, walking up to him.

"Whoa," he stepped back when she was in his personal space.

"You two have a lot on the line you can't fuck around casually," Chloe proceeded to say. "Have you thought about your children?"

"We—"

"—And how it would affect them? Especially Aiden since his sister isn't even here yet," Chloe continued not letting him say anything. "Are you really selfish enough to only think about yourselves?" Meanwhile Fat Amy was demonstrating what he could only describe as horrific ways to disfigure his genitals.

"Alright, Stop! Both of you!" he exclaimed, having had enough. "Beca and I aren't selfish nor stupid enough to do anything harmful towards our kids. We're taking it slow and it's working for us," he said when they simultaneously stopped.

"Neither one of us owes any of you an explanation nor do we need your validation on how we decide to define our relationship. So, just step back and respect our boundaries." He looked at the three women standing in front of him. "I'm telling Beca about your little visit and everything else that happened." He looked at Stacie who shot him a smile when their eyes met. "Because our relationship is based on honesty and communication."

There were a few seconds of silence after he was done talking.

All eyes were on Jesse, it was making him uncomfortable.

"He's good," Fat Amy finally said, tilting her head to look at Chloe.

"Yup," Chloe nodded.

Jesse frowned in puzzlement.

"I've already told you he is," Stacie spoke in boredom.

"We had to be sure for ourselves, Stacie," Chloe noted, sighing happily. "We're really happy for you, Jesse." She patted his shoulder. "We just wanted to make sure you're good enough for Beca," she explained.

"You passed the test, congrats," Fat Amy said next, patting his shoulder.

"Yay!" Chloe clapped her hands excitedly.

He didn't know what to say or do so he just stood there.

"We should leave," the redhead then said, looking at the time. "Goodnight, Jesse," she smiled at the man.

Jesse watched the trio walk out of his place and locked the door behind them, still processing what happened.

Sighing, he pressed the button on his phone to look at the time on the home screen and only then realized that he never hung up the phone.

He brought his phone to his ear, "Becs? You still here?"

_"Yup,"_ she answered.

"You heard everything?" his question sounded more like a statement.

_"Uh-Huh,"_ she replied.

"You have really weird friends."

_"Tell me about it,"_ she sighed.

* * *

**AN:** Hey peeps! Hope this chapter was entertaining to read. Would be dope to hear your feedback.


	11. Chapter 11

"Morning," Jesse smiled as Beca who had just unlocked the door to her apartment and let him in.

"Morning," she replied.

He hugged her, placing a peck on her temple while his hand felt her belly.

It was a matter of days before he finally got to meet his daughter.

"How are you doing?" he asked as she pulled away.

"Okay," she curtly said.

He lowered his head to get a better look at her: she looked tired. "Didn't get much sleep last night, huh?" Jesse figured.

"Nope," she sighed. "Aiden just got into the shower," she shared with him.

"Yeah, I know I'm early." He eyed her: her hair was still wet from the shower and she had sweatpants and an over-sized T-shirt on. "What happened?" he wondered, noting the bucket and mop in the room.

"The orange juice pitch slipped from my hand," she informed.

He nodded at her words and followed her into the kitchenette.

"Let me help you with that." He walked around the counter, deciding to give her a hand with breakfast. "You go back to sleep if you want."

She was rubbing her eyes and seemed very uncomfortable. The shower she had only made her sleepier, he assumed.

"I'll go back to sleep after I eat something."

"Well, then go lay down. I'll bring you breakfast to bed," he suggested.

"Thanks." She smiled at him. "Although breakfast in bed does sound awesome, I'm gonna pass. I want to have it with you and Aiden." She patted his cheek. "I'll go back to bed once you guys leave."

"What do you want to eat?"

"I was going to make some pancakes," she told him. "Already started on the batter," she yawned.

"Want me to make you waffles, too?"

She nodded still yawning and carefully took a seat on one of the stool. "Thanks, Jesse."

"No problem." He picked up where she left off. "You know I like feeding you." He smiled at her.

"So you're planning to sleep in today?" he said as he turned to the stove, the pancake batter in hand.

"Yup. Mostly that." She ran her fingers through her hair. "What about you?"

"I'm meeting a friend," he shared with her. "Donald… we went to college together and we actually worked together on my first project. Co-wrote the movie that I directed and that he produced."

"How did you two get in touch?" she asked.

"He moved to L.A. recently after years of living on the east coast. He texted me and asked if I wanted to hang out." His excitement was childlike and she found it adorable. "Oddly enough I didn't fuck things up with him, we just lost touch."

"You do realize that you weren't the antichrist?" Jesse had a tendency to assume he ruined all of his relationships and was having a hard time accepting that he wasn't always a douchebag.

"Well, yeah, of course." He shrugged. "I don't have to meet him until this afternoon. I thought we'd hang out but you're going back to bed."

"I'm not that tired—" Another yawn interrupted her. "Besides, I have some chores to do around the apartment."

"I'll help you with the chores then," he figured.

By the time breakfast was ready, Aiden had stepped out of the bathroom freshly showered.

"Aiden, buddy, excited to get your learner's permit?" Jesse asked pretty damn excited himself once the boy got dressed for the day and joined his parents for breakfast.

"Kinda nervous, actually," Aiden responded, sitting down.

"You're a great driver, Aiden, you have nothing to be nervous about," Jesse assured. "Besides, we're gonna rehearse before you go to school, aren't we?" That was the whole point of Jesse showing up early at Beca's apartment.

"You got this." Beca smiled warmly at her nervous son before she placed a kiss on his head.

* * *

Jesse dropped Aiden off at his school after the boy practiced driving one last time before he passed his test later that day then went back to Beca's place.

He did most of the chores and Beca couldn't stop him because a- she was very pregnant b- she was very tired c- he was very persistent.

"Laundry is done," Jesse announced, making his way towards her bedroom. "Anything else?" he wondered as he stood in the doorway, a basket of clean clothes in hands.

"No, all done. Seriously, dude, thank you."

"What are you doing?" he asked, placing the basket down and walking to her.

"Eh, just checking if everything in its place." She zipped the hospital bag.

He sat down next to her on the bed and rubbed her back when she blew a breath. "You alright, Becs?"

She nodded. "A little nervous," she admitted.

"Well, that's normal I guess. Being afraid of giving birth, especially that you've been through it and know how painful it is."

"Jesse," she called.

"Yes."

She took too long before she spoke. "Parenting a baby is really hard." She paused. "Dating and also parenting a baby is even harder."

"You don't think we can do it?" he didn't know what to think of what she dropped on him.

"I don't think our thing is strong enough to survive having a baby," she reluctantly said.

"Beca," he called in disbelief, the hand that was rubbing her back falling on the bed. "Our _thing_ is getting stronger." It irked him a little that she refused to call their _thing_ a relationship.

"We've been dating for barely three months, Jesse. There are people out there who've been together for years before they've had a baby and they end up breaking up," she argued.

"We're not those people. We're _us_," he replied. "We'll make it work. It won't be easy but we will," he confidently said.

"Dude, you don't know what you're talking about," she chuckled humorlessly. "It's really hard to take care of a newborn and not lose yourself in the process let alone dedicate some of your time to a significant other."

"Well, not with your mindset we won't make it," he mumbled, getting up.

"I'm being realistic here, Jesse."

"You call that being realistic?" He couldn't believe it but they were having their first argument. "I call it being pessimistic."

"Oh my god," she laughed humorlessly.

"Yeah, you don't have faith in us," he accusingly said. "Deciding beforehand that we're doomed. Guess you went into this with your foot out of the door after all." He closed his eyes momentarily for snapping at her. "I'm sorry," he apologized.

"Just get out," she sighed, sounding defeated.

"Bec, I didn't mean—"

"I don't wanna hear it," she interrupted. "Leave."

He eyed her for a few seconds then nodded and got out of the room, figuring it would be best if he did what she wanted.

* * *

Jesse was out having a drink with his old friend Donald and he couldn't help but only think about Beca. He regretted what he said so much. He didn't understand how he'd snapped at her like he did. He didn't want it to happen again. It sounded like something he'd say pre-amnesia and it scared him to think that his douche-bagginess was resurfacing.

"Have you been working on anything?" Donald asked.

"I've been writing," Jesse answered. "It's been a little slow."

"That's cool. You have some great stuff to pull from. I mean it's awful what you went through but you know what I mean."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's cool, I get what you mean." Jesse took a sip of his tea. "What about you?"

"I'm currently in the process of developing an 8-part miniseries for Netflix," Donald shared.

"That is awesome. Tell me more about it," Jesse eagerly said, shoving his own thoughts to the back of his mind.

What Beca said about their ability to maintain a relationship once Rosalie was born was really hard to push back, it kept creeping back.

"Sounds like a great show," Jesse said once Donald finished explaining the premise of this new series, a series that Jesse retained nothing about.

"Thanks," Donald drummed his fingers on the table before he spoke again, "you know, I've been thinking a lot about what made _For a Year_ so good," he said referring to their one and only collaboration that also happened to be their first feature. "And I came to the conclusion that it's all you, man."

"Me?" Jesse frowned.

"Yeah." Donald nodded. "You put your heart and soul into that movie." He paused. "Because you drew so much from your own experiences."

"I guess I have. I never really thought about it."

"This show I'm developing right now would be a perfect project for you to work on," Donald noted.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Jesse reluctantly said, wondering if Donald had watched any of his movies from the last five years.

"It is, though. Think about it. This mini-series has themes that you've had the misfortune of going through yourself."

Jesse thought about it for a second and Donald wasn't wrong. Almost dying because of terminal illness and the amnesia did leave a huge mark on him emotionally and physically and he could see the main themes of the miniseries in his own life.

"You don't have to give me an answer right now, but I want you to think about it, okay? I'd really love to work with you again."

"I'll think about it," Jesse finally said.

* * *

Jesse went back to Beca's place, hoping to find her in a better mood and planning to properly apologize and talk about how she felt about their relationship like adults instead of pissing her off.

He was about to knock when she unlocked the door. "Hi," he greeted, eyeing her.

Beca changed from her sweats into a dress and had sunglasses on. He soon figured she was on her way out.

"I know you wanted to be left alone but I can't just leave for good now, can I?" he chuckled humorlessly and followed her to the elevator. "Look, I'm really sorry for snapping at you like that. It was out of line and I wish I could take it back." He frowned when she said nothing in response.

"Beca, I know you're mad at me but don't you think ignoring me is a bit much?" He stepped into the elevator after she did and watched her push the ground floor button.

"I'm not ignoring you. I just figured I hear you out until you were done talking before I spoke." She took off her sunglasses and wore them over her head. "You should try that sometime."

"I'm really sorry—" he noticed the bag she had in her hand that he recognized as the bag she planned to take with her to the hospital and immediately his eyes widened.

"You're in labor?" he realized.

"Yup," she answered and as if on cue she felt a contraction coming.

"Why didn't you call me?" he asked, his voice going a few pitches higher than normal. "What the hell, Beca!"

"I was gonna call you." She winced as she tried to breathe through the very painful contraction.

"When? After you've already given birth?"

"I was gonna call you and tell you to meet me there, there's no need to drag you here just so we would go together. I can drive myself."

She rested her hand against the wall when the elevator made a weird sound before it stopped.

"No," Jesse mumbled. "This can't be happening." He pressed several buttons on the board, hoping it would get the elevator to move. "Fuck," he grunted before he punched the board.

"We'll just call nine-one-one to get us out of here," she sighed, reaching to look inside her bag for her cellphone. "Fuck, I can't find it." she sighed. "I must've left it on the counter."

Jesse patted his pockets to feel his phone and soon realized he left it in the car. "I left mine in the car." He ran a hand over his face.

"Well, this sucks," Beca said meeting Jesse's gaze. "Someone will realize this piece of junk isn't work and call the landlord," she added, noting the very panicked look on his face. "We won't be here for long."

He looked at the door ahead of them. "You don't know that." He swallowed hard and could hear his heart beat faster.

"Jesse, hey, look at me." She cupped his face to tilt his head. "Everything is gonna be okay," she assured him, realizing that he was building up to a panic attack. She was also panicking but wasn't showing any of it in front of Jesse. "Someone will come eventually. It's gonna be okay. So, just breathe." He rapidly nodded and sucked in a deep breath before he began banging on the door and calling for help in the hopes of catching anyone's attention.

His hands hurt so he took a little break from banging on the door. "I'm really sorry about earlier," he said after a few seconds of silence. "You're scared of how having Rosalie will affect us and instead of talking it through with you, I lashed out." He leaned against the wall behind him. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not scared… I'm just worried," she said with a shrug. "We don't really hang out that much as it is and once there's a baby around we won't hang out at all. She'll be our sole focus for her first few months."

"You think we'll lose interest in each other?" he wondered doubting it would happen to them.

"It could happen, Jesse."

"Well, I guess then we'll have to make conscious effort to make sure that never happens," he figured.

"That's easier said than done."

"Have a little faith in us, would you?" He frowned when she placed a hand against her back feeling another contraction coming. He straightened up and tried to help her get through it as best as he could. "That was really close to the last contraction, Beca," Jesse noted.

"Yup." She exhaled loudly, leaning against the wall and resting her head against it as well.

"We really need to get you to the hospital. Have you been timing contractions? How long ago did they get close in time?"

"A couple of hours now," she shared him. "Active labor lasts up to five hours," she reminded when she clocked the very same panic from minutes ago resurface.

"You know that's not always the case." He scratched his head, feeling helpless and useless. "Also, I'm the one who's supposed to comfort you and not the other way around: you're in labor and we're stuck in a fucking elevator!"

"Yeah, well, you're on the verge of a panic attack and I'm not."

"What?" Jesse asked noting the frown that formed on Beca's forehead before she slipped her hand under her dress.

She had blood on the tips of her fingers when she pulled her hand from underneath her dress.

"No, no, no, no," Jesse was trying not let the panic he felt take over him completely but it was very hard not to panic. "Okay," he breathed at last. "We're getting out of here," he said as he looked around them.

"How?" Beca calmly said and Jesse couldn't fathom how she's holding it together. If it weren't for her glassy eyes and the sniffling it would be impossible to tell that she was _barely_ holding it together.

He could see through the crack of the door light, which could only mean they were close to a level. He then proceeded to force-open the door with his hands.

His fingers hurt like hell but he wasn't going to stop until he opened it.

Jesse tilted his head to look at Beca who had been very quiet to find her looking paler than she did earlier and couldn't tell if it's the blood she was losing or her fear of what the bleeding could mean. "Beca," he called. "Feeling dizzy?" he guessed because she was resting her head against the wall.

She nodded curtly and he could feel his heart clench. She looked really bad and it worried him so much to know that it wasn't just her that was at risk.

Jesse shoved his worries to the back of his head because he had to get his bleeding pregnant girlfriend to the hospital and that was all he had to focus his energy on.

Jesse didn't know how they made it to the hospital. He was on autopilot: he didn't allow himself to even think about what was happening because he knew he'd panic if he did. So he shoved those fears to the back of his mind until nurses stopped him from getting any further in the ER once they took Beca with them.

She was still conscious and felt few contractions on the way to the hospital and that's what kept him from completely breaking down.

Jesse dropped on the closest chair he saw and had to clench his hands when they started to shake as his thoughts made it back to his conscious mind.

He had a full-blown panic attack that he struggled to get through.

Jesse checked the time on his watch every two minutes as he waited for a doctor to come to tell him that anything about Beca and their baby girl. He knew he should probably call someone yet couldn't bring himself to get out of the hospital to go and get his cellphone from his car.

* * *

"Hey," he softly said, walking into the room.

"Hi," Beca cleared her throat, trying to sit up.

"Easy," he mumbled. "I know you can't feel it right now thanks to the anesthesia but you had surgery. Be careful."

She nodded in response and rubbed her face.

"Where is she?" Beca asked, feeling Jesse's fingers tracing the tattoos on her arm once he sat down on the bed. "Jesse?" she called, hearing a sniffle. "Where's my daughter?" she tried to sit up again.

"At the newborn nursery. Don't freak out. She's fine," he answered.

"You scared me."

"Sorry," he quickly wiped the tears that fell. "I was just there actually. Well, not in the nursery." She nodded, figuring he meant he just stood in front of the huge window and saw their daughter.

"A nurse should bring her soon," he assured.

"Why are you crying?" she asked quietly.

"Because _you_ scared me." He wiped the tears that wouldn't stop falling. "You lost a lot of blood and the doctor told me that there was a strong chance you wouldn't make it through surgery because of all the blood you lost." He sniffled and decided to keep the fact that her heart actually stopped during surgery and that Rosalie wouldn't have made it if they arrived a minute later to the hospital from her.

"I'm still here, Jess."

"Well, yeah. Thank god!" He chuckled humorlessly. "Well thank the doctor that really freaked me out at first. But also, _God. _I don't wanna mess with the big guy_. _He could take you away and we don't want that_._"

"Come here, weirdo." She reached for him and he obliged, scooting closer and burying his face in her hair when she hugged him tightly. "It's okay," she told him as she rubbed his back, looking up when a nurse knocked on the door before she walked in. She had Rosalie, who was fussing, with her.

"Baby is really hungry," the nurse said.

Jesse pulled away then stood up to let the nurse do her job.

He watched as Beca took Rosalie from the nurse and it wasn't long until Rosalie was happily nursing.

"She's got quite the appetite," Jesse noted as the nurse left the room.

"Yeah," Beca agreed, rubbing her thumb against Rosalie's cheek. "Hey, where's Aiden?" she asked as he sat down next to her.

Jesse looked at his watch. "On his way here. Stacie is picking him up from school." He threw his arm around her and rubbed her arm. "He aced the test by the way."

"Nice."

"Becs," he called, fixating on their newborn baby. "Move in with me."

The scare they just experienced made him truly see how much he cared about her. Jesse realized that developed extremely strong feelings for Beca and it only made him want to move their relationship forward. Living together seemed like the next step for them given the circumstances.

Beca was quiet for a few seconds. "No."

"Because you're worried we wouldn't make it through Rosalie's first few months," he figured. "I get it." He nodded. "We don't have to share a bedroom. You can have your own room. There's plenty of room in my house unlike your apartment," he told her. "We don't even have to tell Aiden we're seeing each other. We'll tell him it's just because you live on the fourth floor and how impractical it is when the elevator keeps breaking down. Besides, there's not enough room for you, Aiden, and Rosalie in your apartment."

"Jesse, we can't just move in together after three months of dating," she said in response. "Most couples out there date for_ years_ before they move in together."

"We're not like most couples." He shrugged. "We're _us. _We have a teenage son and a newborn baby. I don't think the couples you're using as an example really represent our situation." He sat up when Beca held Rosalie against her chest once she finished nursing.

"Just think about it, Becs."

"No." She shook her head. "And, we're done talking about this." Beca tilted her head to look at him as she patted Rosalie's back gently.

Jesse clenched his jaw because despite knowing how likely it was that she'd say no, he had a tiny hope that she'd agree.

* * *

When Stacie arrived at the hospital with Aiden, Jesse left the room. He told them he was going to grab something from the vending machine but he just needed some time off.

He bit into the energy bar he just bought and sat down in one of the chairs in the hall.

"You okay there, Jesse?" He heard Stacie ask and looked up.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Well, you're a bad liar." She sat down next to him. "What's up?"

"I asked Beca to move in with me and she said no."

"What did you expect?" she snorted.

"Her apartment isn't the best place to raise a baby."

"I lived in that apartment. I have no idea why Beca hasn't moved out yet."

_'She can't afford to move out,'_ he thought to himself.

"She won't agree to move in with you easily, Jesse. I love Beca to death but she's _very_ difficult."

"What am I supposed to do? It's nearly impossible to have a conversation with her when she's already made up her mind."

"Knowing Beca, you just have to wait for her to change her mind," Stacie clicked her tongue. "Nothing good comes from pressuring her."

"That's not good enough." Jesse starched his head. "I can't just wait. I gotta do something."

"In that case, good luck." She patted his shoulder.

"Thanks, Stacie," he smiled at the brunette.

* * *

"Is this really necessary?" Beca asked.

"Yes." Jesse nodded. "Come on." He picked her up very carefully because he was worried he'd put any pressure on the wound of the surgery.

She sighed, throwing her arm around his shoulder. "Is she still asleep?"

Aiden had Rosalie in his arms as well as his mother's bag. "Yup," the boy assured, checking on his sister.

By the time, they made it to the apartment Jesse was sweating.

Beca wasn't heavy or anything but climbing the stairs to get to the fourth floor was quite the workout.

"Thanks." He smiled when Beca used the back of her sleeve to wipe the sweat that formed on his forehead.

He put her down ever so carefully and watched her unlock the door.

"Welcome home, sis," Aiden quietly said to his sleeping sister as he entered the house, pecking her cheek before handing her over to his mother.

* * *

"Here you go," Beca said handing Jesse a pillow and a bed sheet.

"Thanks," he said accepting them. He put the pillow on the sofa then threw the bed sheet over it.

"You really don't have to do this, you know?"

"Of course I do." He sat down. "First six weeks of a baby's life are hell for the parents. I'm not gonna let you go through hell on your own." He had already told why he was sleeping over but felt the need to repeat himself.

"Right, because this isn't your way of _'showing me'_ how wrong I am for not wanting to move in with you," she deadpanned. "I refused to move in with you so you moved in with me instead…"

"I'm sleeping over because I want to help take care of Rosalie," he insisted. "She's my daughter, too."

He wasn't lying but she wasn't wrong either. He did plan to change her mind about moving in together. He wasn't just going to drop it. However, Jesse had yet to figure out how he was going to change her mind.

"Hey, I'm not gonna kick you out," she said in amusement. "Relax," she chuckled. "I hope you napped earlier 'cause you won't be getting much sleep tonight." She tilted her head to check if Aiden's bedroom door was closed before she leaned in and placed a peck on Jesse's lips.

* * *

He barely had any sleep that night or the night that followed but he had zero complaints.

Beca went through a lot to get Rosalie into the world. She needed to heal and not getting enough sleep would slow her healing process.

So, yeah, he was fine getting zero sleep at night.

After the second week, Jesse officially became a night owl.

"Sorry," Aiden apologized, noting that he woke his father up when he flipped the light switch. "I didn't know you were sleeping here."

"It's okay," Jesse replied, rubbing his eyes. "What time is it?" he asked, sitting up.

"Five-thirty pm," the teenage boy answered, placing his backpack on his desk and taking off his sweatshirt. "Why are you sleeping in my bed?" he wondered.

"Your mom wanted to clean the apartment and I was napping on the sofa. She sent me here." He yawned, stretching. "Your bed is so comfy." He laid back and threw his arm over his eyes, still feeling sleepy.

"You're just really tired," Aiden snorted. "Hey, dad," the boy then called.

Jesse hummed in response.

"I know you're super tired during the day because Rosa keeps you up at night," he began to say, bringing a smile to his father's face at his use of _Rosa_ in reference to his baby sister. "But we have a game next Thursday and I was wondering if you'd like to come to watch."

"Hell, yeah, I'll come," Jesse answered right away.

"Awesome," Aiden beamed. "I'm gonna let you sleep now."

"No, I'm up." Jesse sighed. "I'm really hungry. I'm thinking tacos."

"Want me to go get them for you?" Aiden wondered.

"Nah, I'll go. I'd like some company, though." Jesse was feeling bad for how little he hung out with Aiden ever since Rosalie was born and wanted to make up for the boy.

"I'll go see if mom wants tacos, too," Aiden left the room while his father struggled to get out of bed.

Jesse exited his son's bedroom and made his way to the living area to retrieve his shoes.

He sat down on the sofa, next to Beca who was folding clothes and rubbed his face. "You okay?" he heard Beca ask and nodded.

"Yeah, it's just one of those naps that really fuck with you once you wake up," he told her, looking up. "I just need to wash up."

"Aiden is in the bathroom," she let him know. "I should empty a drawer for you," Beca mumbled as she folded a t-shirt of his, feeling his gaze on her.

"Just put my clothes in a backpack, I'll take 'em home," he told her.

"Please, like that would make a difference when you practically live here now."

"Is that a complaint I'm hearing?" she didn't sound like she was bothered.

"No," she sighed. "I actually appreciate the extra pair of hands with Rosalie," she genuinely said, tilting her head to look at him. "Thank you for looking after her. But you're having nights off from now on."

"What do you mean?" He frowned.

"I mean what I said. You're exhausted and your sleep schedule is all over the place. I'll wake up for Rosalie tonight."

"Beca, I don't mind—"

"—I do." She cupped his cheek. "No more several sleepless nights in a row for you."

She dropped her hand when Aiden unlocked the bathroom door.

* * *

"Dude, go back to sleep," Beca said when Jesse joined her in her bedroom as soon as Rosalie woke up for her night feed.

"I can't. Not when she's bawling."

"Jesse, if you're not going to get sleep here I think you should spend the night at your place from now on."

"What? No!"

"Not every night. Just the nights off," she clarified. "And keep your voice down!"

"I don't want nights _off,_" he quietly said.

She sighed, stroking Rosalie's cheek as the infant began to calm down in her mother's arm while she nursed.

"This is my favorite part," Jesse whispered as Rosalie began to fall asleep. "When she's almost out but won't stop nursing." He leaned in and placed a small peck on Rosalie's head.

"She's so beautiful," he gushed.

"Yeah, she is," Beca agreed.

Beca waited until Rosalie completely dosed off before she put her back in her crib.

"Do you want me to stop spending the night here?" Jesse asked, wrapping an arm around Beca's waist from behind.

"I want you to get some sleep at normal sleep hours," she said in response. "If you're not going to get any of that here then yes, I want you to stop spending the night _here_."

"Okay." He placed a peck on her head before he buried his face in her hair. She had a point because he really needed to be up during the day.

"Does it still hurt?" he wondered, resting his hand right above her bikini line where she had C-section stitches. The stitches came off but the wound hadn't completely healed.

"When I bend, yes. Otherwise, no."

He pulled his head back just enough to place a peck on her temple. "I miss this," he mumbled into her hair.

"We need to fix this," he inhaled deeply.

"Fix what?" she leaned into his chest.

"You said we won't have time for each other and you were right," he admitted. Truly, their sole focus had been Rosalie for the past two weeks.

"But I have a plan to fix this." He rested his cheek against hers. "We just need good time management."

"That's your _genius_ plan? Time management?" she tilted her head to look at him.

"Well, I have a few ideas that I'd like to keep as a surprise but yes it's all about time management." He sighed when she eyed him suspiciously. "Just trust me, okay? And promise you'll humor me."

"Alright." She shrugged.

He leaned in to kiss her and deepened it when she wrapped an arm loosely around his waist as she turned to face him.

Jesse really missed her and could tell from the way she was kissing him that she missed him just as much.

He slept through most of the day and when he'd be up, Aiden would be around so holding hands under the table while they had dinner was the mostly the only form of affection apart from the quick pecks they shared.

Jesse pulled away first and tried to control his breathing which proved to be a challenge: He was extremely turned on and the only thing they did was makeout for less than a minute.

He rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes.

"You alright?" Beca quietly asked.

Feeling her hand caress his cheek, he smiled and pulled her closer in a hug. "I just need a minute."

"Oh," she exclaimed in realization, feeling his erection against her thigh.

"Yeah," he sighed then nuzzled her cheek. "I should let you get some sleep." He placed a peck on her cheek.

"Wait," she mumbled when he broke the hug, hooking her index finger into the waistband of his sweatpants. "Let's fix _this _first."

He chuckled, kissing her back when she threw her arm around his shoulder and pulled him closer as they kissed.

"As much as I'd really,_ really _love for you to help fix this, I can't take you up on that." He clicked his tongue.

"Why?" she frowned.

"Well, for starters it's almost two am and we should be sleeping." He sighed. "Besides, I know for a fact that sex—oral included— is not something you're interested in right now, that's just how biology works." He shrugged.

Her body was balancing its hormones back to how they were pre-pregnancy, which took time and resulted in low sex drive.

"Thank you for offering, though." He then placed a kiss on her forehead right where she had a frown.

* * *

**AN:** Hey, peeps. Sorry, it's been a while. I hope this chapter was entertaining enough. Let me what you thought.


	12. Chapter 12

"What are you doing?" Beca asked, startling him as he set up two canvases in the middle of the living area.

"This was supposed to be a surprise," he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "You weren't supposed to get up for another thirty minutes."

"I _slightly _weirded out by the fact that you know when I wake up from a nap," she noted. "And very curious to know why there are two canvases in the middle of the apartment?"

Jesse had a plan: it required a lot of creativity on his part and thankfully, his creative juices didn't disappoint.

He was confident about his plan.

He thought it was flawless and would work out just fine— if Beca rolled with it, of course.

"Because… we are going to paint portraits of each other. We can't really go out on dates so I figured we'd have dates here." He explained as Beca made her way towards him.

"I got everything we'd need." He gestured at the materials he purchased. "And I even got us snacks." he gestured at the box of donuts he bought. "So, what do you think?" He asked when she didn't say anything. "Corny?"

"No, not corny." She smiled at him. "There's a small problem, though."

"What problem?" He frowned.

"I can't paint for shit," she grimaced.

"Me neither," he grinned at her. "Which makes this even more fun."

* * *

"First kiss?" He paused, tilting his head enough to see her roll her eyes.

"That's what you're going starting with?"

They were having a rapid fire round of questions: it was Jesse's idea. He wanted to get to know Beca better and he wasn't going to waste time anymore. He had strong feelings for the mother of his children and wanted her to live with him. Arguably, it might seem like he's rushing things but he didn't care: he knew what he wanted: he wanted their relationship to grow because he saw a future with Beca.

"My first kiss was during a spin the bottle game when I was thirteen," he shared with her.

"I'm convinced that half the population had their first kiss during that game," Beca said in response.

"You're probably right," he agreed. "You haven't answered," he reminded.

"I didn't kiss any dude until I was eighteen," she sighed.

"Wait what now?" He was very surprised.

"Yeah. Zero action until I was eighteen."

"How was that even possible? Look at you. You're cool as fuck. With those tattoos. And that scary earspike," he said, referring to the tattoos she got before she was legally allowed to get inked and the earspike he saw on her ear in framed pictures.

"Wait. You said with a _dude_." He arched an eyebrow. "Does that mean your first kiss was with a girl?"

"I had severe trust issues. An unhealthy amount of abandonment issues. With a dash of good ol' low self-esteem. It's really hard to let anyone close enough to even allow myself to think about holding their hand when these were around," she explained in deadpan.

"I'm sorry," he said in response.

"Things got better eventually." She shrugged in response. "Since you went for first kiss, let's continue with firsts." She paused. "First time having sex."

"Seventeen. With my high school girlfriend of two years at that point… wonder how she's doing these days. You?"

"I didn't have sex until I was twenty," she shared with him.

He stopped painting to look at her. "Twenty," he echoed.

She was twenty when Aiden was conceived.

"You weren't my first time." She snorted. "I actually had a boyfriend and we were together for four months before we boned."

"The guy you broke up with the night we met," He figured.

"Yup." She nodded.

Their rapid fire wasn't as rapid as Jesse planned and that his fault because he was curious.

"Why did you break with him?"

"He cheated on me. He cheated on me the whole time we were together and that night I caught him."

"Ouch." He grimaced.

"He actually tried to use the fact that I didn't put out as soon as he expected as an excuse for his infidelity," she recounted. "And at that very moment, nothing felt more right then punching him in the face."

"He made it worse, didn't he? Your issues must have got worse up after that."

"Oh, yeah." She let out a humorless laugh. "I mean I had Aiden to take care of, so I put off dating for a few years but yeah, getting cheated on didn't help…"

"Did you love him?" he quietly asked.

"God, no," she replied. "I mean it sucked to get cheated on but I didn't love him. Can you imagine how sad it would have been if I did?"

"It would have probably made you swear off dating. You could have possibly become a nun."

"Yeah," she laughed. "I couldn't. I had a baby. You can't become a nun if you have children who are dependent on you. Unless I lie about Aiden to the church but that's very wrong."

"That would actually make quite the movie now that I think about it."

"Would it though?" she doubted.

"Yeah. I would watch a movie about a girl who decided to become a nun despite having a baby because of a traumatic relationship instead of just getting into therapy like a normal person and getting over her issues," he said.

"Okay, I'm done." He heard Beca say and looked at her.

"I just need a few more minutes to finish," he mumbled, focusing on the portrait he was painting.

"Okay," Beca said biting into a donut and eyeing what she painted.

"And I'm done," he slowly said, setting the brush down.

Beca stuffed the donut in her mouth and got up to tilt the canvas so that Jesse would see what she drew while he did the same.

"Damn, Picasso," she deadpanned, as soon as she swallowed the donut she had been chewing.

"Shut up, I tried." He eyed what she painted as he spoke. "My head isn't that big."

"It is."

"You put more effort into the shirt than you did painting the features. And my shirt is WHITE," he said in mock annoyance. "Also, this." He gestured at the nose. "Is Racist. My nose is really not that big."

She snorted, tilting her head to look at him. "Okay, I'll admit your nose is definitely smaller. I just thought it would be funny to make it stand out a _little_."

"Because I'm Jewish."

She nodded.

"Hilarious." He shot her a phony dirty look. "While you were trying to make _amazing_ jokes, I actually tried. Therefore I win."

"I didn't know this was a competition. You didn't say this was a competition."

"I just decided it's a competition." He shrugged. "And I declare myself the winner. My prize is the rest of the donuts."

"Wow. You really are self-conscious about your nose," she figured. She took a bit from the donut she had in hand.

"My nose is _not_ big." He took the donut from her.

"Okay, fine, weirdo," she mumbled. "Give it back."

"No," he kept a straight face as he hid the donut behind his back. He wasn't really offended by her joke, it was actually kinda funny.

Unable to keep a smile off his face when she tried to take it from him, he wrapped his arms around her in a hug.

He heard her sigh as she hugged him back. "We should set these on fire before anyone sees them," she mumbled, tilting her head enough to look at the paintings.

"Yeah." He agreed. "I mean mine is not that bad… right?" She didn't give him any feedback. He didn't let her because he was busy overreacting and pretending to be offended.

"You tried."

"I'll take that as a yes." He leaned in to kiss her. "You taste so sweet," he noted.

"Yeah, I was eating a donut that you stole from me."

He might have been kidding when he acted hurt over the racist joke and took the donut from because he claimed it and the rest of the donuts as a prize for actually trying to paint. She, however, didn't seem to be faking her annoyance with him for taking the donut.

"About time," Beca mumbled, hearing the sound of their daughter who woke up crying.

Jesse unwrapped his arms from around her and handed her the donut back.

They made their way to the bedroom quickly. Jesse picked up the fussing baby, immediately realizing she was in need of a diaper change and getting on it.

By the time he was done Beca had devoured a couple of donuts. "Did you leave any for me?" He wondered, eyeing Beca who was leaning against the doorway, the box of donuts in her hands.

"Yeah. There's one left. You can have it… if you want to." She sucked her teeth, eyeing the box that she was placing on the nightstand.

Jesse handed Rosalie, who was still crying, over to Beca and watched as their baby's sobs stopped once she was in her mother's arms.

He sat down next to Beca on the bed and rested his chin on her shoulder, watching as Rosalie nursed.

"I usually don't do well with surprises. Today's surprise was one of those rare ones that are actually nice. Thank you."

He smiled, feeling her hand on his cheek, her thumb rubbing against it. "I had fun getting to know you better… wouldn't have guessed it that you enjoy making racist jokes in a million years. So, yeah, today's date was definitely eye-opening."

"Hey, I shared some serious crap with you. I think I'm allowed to point out your physical flaws in return."

Sharing the serious crap, as she put it, with him was huge for her. Talking about her issues that he just knew she hadn't gotten over just yet was actually very telling about who she was as a person. Things might have gotten better but everything about her made sense, knowing that she's struggled so much with letting people in when she was younger.

"Are you going to personally attack me every time you tell me something about yourself?" He wondered.

"You're so dramatic," she sighed.

"I work in movies. I make a living dramatizing situations." He shrugged, shifting his attention to Rosalie. "Is she gonna fall back asleep?" Jesse wondered.

"I'd rather she doesn't. She'd sleep longer at night if she stays up during the day."

"Wouldn't she get cranky though?"

"Eh. What's the worst that could happen? She'd cry our ears off?" She casually said. "It's pretty much white noise at this point," She deadpanned and in response, he chuckled.

* * *

The indoor painting date went extremely well which made his ideas for future ones better.

He planned an indoor date every other week. And each one was better than the last.

The dates really helped strengthen their relationship. They pulled it off: taking care of Rosalie didn't affect their relationship badly.

"I'm sorry," Beca said, handing Jesse a bottle she just fixed for Rosalie.

"Please. Don't be." He smiled at her before he shifted his attention to Rosalie who was in his arms.

"Stacie got into a weird monologue about how I really need this. Which I don't. I don't need to go out. She just wouldn't leave me alone until I agreed," she explained, making her way to the kitchenette to make herself a sandwich.

"Beca, we can hang out some other time. Have fun with Stacie." He caressed Rosalie's cheek as she nursed.

"You put so much thought into these dates. And I'm canceling last minute."

"I do put a lot of thought into these dates," he agreed. "But I agree with Stacie on this one. You barely go out. I mean even before we had this bundle of joy." He placed a kiss on Rosalie's cheek. "You didn't. You just go to work and that's it."

"I was pregnant and always tired, I couldn't go out if I wanted to," she argued.

"Exactly, which proves how much you really need this." He eyed her as she made her way back to the living area. "We'll hang out some other time."

Jesse tilted his head to look at the front door hearing it get unlocked and saw that it was Aiden, which meant they had to resume their conversation later.

Jesse really wanted Aiden to know that they were dating. They waited long enough in his opinion. Beca was still on the fence.

His anxious girlfriend (He liked referring to her as his girlfriend despite the fact that they had yer to label things) had her reasons for being wary and he hated her reasons. She had major trust and abandonment issues that she claimed she had gotten over. Her issues might have gotten less crippling but they were still there. She didn't trust him completely and that's a problem especially when they'd been together for almost 7 months.

They had to have a talk about it and Jesse planned to bring up during the date that just got canceled.

He was going to address her lack of trust (without getting defensive of course) and suggest they'd tell Aiden about their relationship if the conversation went well.

"You're home early," Beca noted, eyeing Aiden as he sat down on the couch next to his father.

"Yeah, didn't you say you're gonna spend the day out?" Jesse added.

"It's beyond hot out there. I changed my mind. I'm staying in."

Beca and Jesse shared a look because their kid sounded weird.

Aiden was the definition of an extrovert. He truly loved the outdoors. Heat wouldn't affect his plans.

"Did you walk home?" Beca asked, noting how sweaty her kid was.

The teenager nodded, "I'm gonna get in the shower, I just need to cool off for a minute." He took off the baseball hat he was wearing and ran his fingers through his hair. He then shifted his attention to his sister who was extremely focused on her bottle.

"Aaron couldn't give you a ride home?" Jesse asked, referring to one of Aiden's friends who had a car.

"Well, I decided to leave early. He would have gotten stuck in traffic and missed the whole hang out if he would have given me a ride home," Aiden explained. "I'm gonna go take a shower," he added, avoiding eye contact as he got on his feet.

"What do you think is up with him?" Jesse wondered once the boy locked the bathroom door.

"I don't know. But I'll find out soon enough."

"You sure about that?" He frowned.

"Oh, yeah. Aiden tells me everything. It's weird."

"It's adorable." He was a little jealous of their relationship. Not that his relationship with Aiden was bad or anything, it's just that they weren't as close as the mother and son were.

Jesse set the bottle on the coffee table and held Rosalie against his chest, resting her chin on his shoulder until she burped.

"Stacie wants us to go clubbing, ugh," Beca said reading the text she received from her friend.

"Clubbing is fun." He gently patted the back of the 3 months old baby as he spoke. "And since it's Stacie you're probably going to some exclusive night club." Stacie Conard was a household name in the film industry; she wouldn't go to _any_ night club.

"Night clubs give me headaches," she grumbled. "I'm too old to go clubbing." She sat down next to him, typing on her phone with one hand and bringing her sandwich to her mouth with her other hand.

He laughed, "Jesse Christ." He held Rosalie up just to kiss her on the cheek before he sat her on his lap. (She couldn't sit just yet, she'd lean against him and that's close enough, therefore, counted as sitting in Jesse's opinion.)

"First off, you're thirty-six. You're not old. Second, there's no age limit for clubbing. You could be double your current age and go clubbing and it would be perfectly fine." He caressed Rosalie's cheek as he spoke. "Third, clubbing is fun. Have fun. I'm sure Stacie wouldn't take you there if she didn't know you'd have a good time."

Beca devoured what was left of her sandwich and silently chewed it before she said, "Come with me?"

"I don't want to crash your night."

"You said it: Stacie wants me to have fun. I'll have fun if you were around."

"Aww, Beca. Thank you for saying that. But who's gonna stay with the kids if we both go out?"

"Aiden can watch his sister." Beca shrugged. "Please, don't make me do this alone."

"You make going out sound like a punishment."

"It is. I'd rather stay home and indulge in whatever you have planned than go out and end up either with a migraine or a hangover the next day which basically a migraine and a step closer to liver failure."

"You have an interesting take on things, Becs."

"Do I tell Stacie you're coming or not?"

"Okay, I'm in," he said in response and smiled when she kissed him, pulling away when Aiden unlocked the bathroom door.

Jesse gave her a look that translated what he wanted to say, '_that was close_'

And she shot him an apologetic look in response.

"Aiden, there's lemonade if you want," Beca said when Aiden made his way to the living area after changing into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

He nodded and went to get himself a glass before he joined his parents (and sister) in the living area.

"What are you watching?" he wondered. "Is this the E! Network?"

"Your father is catching up with pop culture," Beca sighed.

"I asked Stacie for stuff to get on with the current pop culture and she said to watch the E! Network," Jesse explained.

"You went to the wrong person," Beca told him. "You okay?" she asked, rubbing Aiden's back when he sat next to her.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"You don't really sound okay to me." She ran her fingers through his curly damp locks. "Wanna tell me what's up?"

"Honestly, it's nothing." He shrugged. "It's stupid."

"I wanna hear it." She smiled at him when he tilted his head to look at her.

"Miles knew I liked this girl and went and asked her out anyway. We're supposed to be best friends. He didn't even know about her before I introduced them to each other," he shared with her. "They came together and I just couldn't stand being there so I left. I'm not even mad at him. I just didn't think he'd do that without at least telling me."

"You really like this girl, huh."

He nodded.

"She clearly likes your friend." Beca clicked her tongue. "You introduced them to each other and they hit off," she figured. "I'm sorry you feel this way. But you can't really do anything about this."

"I know."

"And don't be too hard on your friend. Maybe he didn't tell you because he knew it's not cool to ask the girl he knew you like out." She rubbed his arm as she spoke. "If there's anything to learn from this is that you shouldn't wait too long otherwise you would miss your shot."

Aiden nodded at her words and leaned into her embrace when she hugged him. Looking over his shoulder, she mouthed, "_told ya_" to Jesse who smiled in response.

_You shouldn't wait too long otherwise you'll miss your shot._

Her words replayed in Jesse's head, words that made more than sense to him because it made him reflect on their relationship and how badly he wanted to move things forward.

* * *

Jesse was running late.

He texted Beca and told her he'd be late because there was a bit of a situation in his house. Given the fact that he wasn't spending much time in his house since Rosalie was born, he missed the fact that some rats made his basement their home. There was a whole family in there and he actually found one of the rats in the garage.

Taking care of the rats took longer than he anticipated (they were sneaky little bastards) therefore he was late.

They were supposed to meet at the nightclub at 10 pm. It was 10:55 and he was still on the freeway.

Arriving at last, he made his way inside. He was impressed with the place. As expected, Stacie picked an exclusive nightclub.

He looked around for his surly girlfriend who despite being on the short side was hard to miss.

Spotting her, he smiled to himself. She was by the bar, looking at her phone. She was probably checking if he texted her he guessed.

She didn't see him when he made his way to the bar. He ordered a gin and tonic and told the bartender that it's for the _brunette_ sitting across from him.

She looked nice.

_Really_ Nice.

Her wardrobe choices clearly had some interference from Stacie because there's more cleavage that she'd usually show.

Her top although a low-cut was a loose fitting one and he could tell why: she still had some of the baby weight to lose and was slightly self-conscious.

He made sure to tell her how beautiful she looked constantly, hoping it would make a difference.

He meant it. He did think she looked beautiful all the time.

Beca frowned when the bartender placed the drink in front of her while pointing in Jesse's direction.

He smiled, meeting her eyes, and waved at her.

She rolled her eyes, holding back a smile as he made his way to her.

"You're late."

"I'm blaming the rats and the absurd traffic in this city." He sighed. "I'm here now." He leaned in.

"Yeah." She leaned up and kissing him reluctantly.

They almost never kissed in public and he sure was going to make it count.

She broke it, cupping his cheek when he tried to deepen the kiss.

"Let's dance," he said.

"I'm not drunk enough." She shook her head.

"Well, then let's fix that." He tilted his head to look for the bartender, planning to get them a round of shots.

He wasn't going to get trashed. It was her night. He was going to keep her happy and safe.

She hadn't had a drink in months and needed it desperately.

She needed to enjoy the night out and he was going to make sure she did.

Jesse cut himself off after two shots and a beer meanwhile Beca drank everyone in the nightclub under the table.

He was amazed by her tolerance for alcohol. It took her a while to get drunk and let loose and Jesse was thrilled he was there to see his girlfriend cut loose.

"Easy," he said in amusement as they danced when she leaned against him, dancing in a very inappropriate way.

Not that he really minded what she was doing but they were in public and getting turned on because she was grinding against his junk wasn't something he was okay with happening in a dance floor full of drunk strangers.

He eventually turned her around because she didn't listen to him (it could either be the loud music or the fact that she really didn't care)

Beca threw her arms around him, tiptoeing to kiss him.

He kissed her back, holding back at first but letting her slip her tongue because who was he kidding? He couldn't deny her a kiss even if it was extremely inappropriate.

_She wouldn't do this sober._

True, they were there to have fun but it didn't mean he'd let her do things that she wasn't comfortable doing sober—inappropriate things.

He pulled away first and brushed her hair behind her ear. She was sweating. Her nicely straightened hair was no longer as straight and her natural waves were back. Her cheeks were flushed because of all the drinking. And she truly looked beautiful.

"Let's get you some water," he told her. "Don't roll your eyes, you'll thank me tomorrow." He held her shoulders and turned her around, walking her towards the bar.

"Stacie. There you are. I thought you left," Jesse said, finding Stacie at the bar.

"I thought I'd give you two some space," she explained.

"Bullshit. You left me to get dicked down in the restroom," Beca said, hopping on a stool next to her friend.

"Jesse's keeping you company, I figured I'd get some too." She gestured at Jesse who was asking the bartender for a glass of water.

"You left before Jesse even got here." Beca accepted the glass Jesse handed her and brought it to her lips.

"Not my problem he was late." Stacie shrugged.

"How can you have sex in those stalls?" Jesse wondered.

"Oh, you can. The small space makes the penetration deeper," She told him. "You two should try it," she added as an afterthought. "Beca is small: You can pick her up. No need to be flexible. So you have that to your advantage." She spoke so casually and chuckled at the blank look Jesse had on his face.

"What about people in the restroom?" he said next.

"What about them?" She shrugged. "Everyone is going about their business."

"Throwing up. Fixing their makeup. Peeing. But definitely not boning," Beca chimed in, setting the glass down.

"Eh, I guess it's not for everyone," Stacie figured.

"Well, where is he?" Jesse wondered. "Your date?"

"I think he left." She shrugged. "And he's not my date."

"Yeah, Stacie doesn't date," Beca said, tilting her head to look at Jesse. "You think I'm fucked up, wait till you hear about Stacie's philosophy when it comes to relationships."

"I don't think you're fucked up," he clarified, placing a peck on her forehead.

"You should," she grimaced.

He snorted because he liked drunk Beca: she was very honest— very inappropriate, too, but that's unrelated.

"Do you want me to get hypothermia and die?" Beca grumbled when Jesse asked the bartender for another glass of water.

"I want you to hydrate." He smiled at her glare as she picked the glass up and brought it to her mouth.

"I need to pee," she said, handing back an empty glass to Jesse before she made her way to the restroom.

"You're not gonna go with Beca?" Jesse asked Stacie. "Isn't that a thing: always going together to the restroom?"

"She can handle herself. If she stays too long, I'll go," Stacie said in response, chuckling at his words.

"Got anything new coming up?" he wondered.

"Yeah." She took a sip from her drink before adding. "I'm in a rom-com coming out in July. I'm having some down time from the press junket madness starts."

"I will make sure to check it out when it's playing at the movies."

"What about you? When are going back to making movies?"

"I'm directing a couple of episodes in a miniseries. It's still in pre-production. Production should start by fall."

He accepted Donald's offer but only agreed to direct a couple of episodes despite Donald wanting him to contribute in the writing as well.

He used having a newborn as an excuse to avoid really telling his old friend why he didn't want to be very involved with the project.

Truth was that he wasn't confident about this writing chops.

"You usually work only stuff you write," she noted.

"Yeah, well, we've seen how that worked out," he said with a sigh.

"Eh, I told you to take a break. Go on a vacation or something but you didn't listen." She shrugged. "I keep forgetting you lost your memory," she added noting the very confused look on his face.

"When we used to hook up, we would talk about things. You know, pillow-talk conversation. Your career was a reoccurring topic."

"What happened? Did I tell you why I started to suck at my job so much?"

"You had a massive creative block that you just refused to acknowledge because of some stupid three-movie deal you made with a major production company."

"Why didn't they just fire me after the first movie?"

"If they fired you, they'd have to still pay you. If you walk out, you'd have to pay them money," she explained. "They just didn't expect the movies to do so poorly," she grimaced before tilting her head to look in the direction the restroom. "I should go check on Beca." She set her drink on the bar. "She's probably taking care of some drunk sobbing chick in there." Stacie hopped off the stool and made her way to the restroom, getting back five minutes later with Beca who as indeed taking care of a drunk sobbing chick.

"She was throwing up and crying. I had to see if she's okay. She could have choked on her vomit."

"You're such a mom," Stacie sighed.

"You're adorable." Jesse threw his arm around the very drunk Beca.

"No, you are," she defensively said, poking him in the chest before clenching his shirt due to the fact that she almost fell off the stool.

If it wasn't for the slight slurring in her speech and the fact that she almost fell trying to sit on the stool, it was very hard to tell that she's wasted.

"Okay," he laughed, helping her sit properly. "No more drinks for you," he decided.

"You're not the boss of me. If I want more drinks, I'll get more drinks." She pulled at his shirt that she was still gripping and he wasn't sure what it was at that moment that made him want to take her home and do all sorts of dirty things to her.

It might have been the death glare or her warm breath so close to his face he could smell the liquor she'd been drinking.

It could possibly be the tone of voice.

Or all the above.

"The stall in the far end is disabled if you don't want to wait until you get home," Stacie said, interrupting what she could only describe as intense eye fucking.

"No, thanks. We're good," Beca slurred, leaning against the bar.

They weren't.

They, in fact, hadn't had sex since before Rosalie was born.

She did take longer than the average 6 weeks to heal which was completely understandable for someone who had to have surgery (Not just a C-section)

But that wasn't why they put off sex.

It was more about how the timing was never right.

"You better be," Stacie said holding her friend's gaze. "You better be keeping my friend happy, Jesse," she added, shifting her gaze to look at Jesse.

"I mean I don't hear complaints," he said with a shrug, finding the way Stacie, like the rest of Beca's friends, cared extremely wholesome.

He envied Beca a little for having such awesome and caring friends.

"You're good." She patted him on the chest. "Shit, I need to pee again," she grumbled in annoyance before she smacked Jesse in the arm. "This is your fault. You just had to make drink all that water."

"Yeah, I'm sure this is the couple of glasses I made you drink and not the drinks you've had beforehand."

"Wait, I'm coming with you," Stacie said, standing up as well. "There's a lot of weeping drunk chicks in there for you to try and mother."

Jesse chuckled to himself watching them walk away.

* * *

They left the nightclub almost an hour later, it was 1: 15 am and Jesse knew he had to drop Beca off to her place soon.

Aiden was watching his sister but still. Aiden was a child. He might be tall and athletic but he was a 15-year-old boy (almost 16 actually but in Jesse's head he's s very much a 15-year-old.)

Jesse also was dropping off Stacie because she had one too many drinks and couldn't drive.

He was driving Stacie's car and figured he could go back to where he parked his car in a taxi or something.

The drunk ladies decided they wanted tacos and so he took them to the nearest taco bell restaurant.

"Here," Jesse said, handing Beca a bottle of water when she got the hiccups from eating too fast.

"You eat like a child when you're drunk. Minus the porno worthy moaning," he noted, watching her chug water.

"You eat like a child sober," she said in response, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand before she resumed eating.

Jesse held the bottle up for Stacie who was in the backseat of her own car, munching on her tacos.

She took it from him.

He had parked the car on the side of the street because he didn't want to drive while they ate. A bump on the road could possibly cause some hurling and he didn't want that. So he parked the car right next to a grocery store and got a bottle of water from it.

"Want some?" Beca asked, holding her taco in Jesse's direction.

"No, thank you. You go ahead and finish it," he declined, grabbing some of the tissue from the tissue box in the car as he turned to face Beca better.

"Dude, I can do this myself." She slapped his hand away from her face and took the tissue from him.

"I like taking care of you," he admitted.

"We're not in one of your stupid movies," she grumbled. "This sort of corny crap isn't cute."

He held his hands up in defeat, doing nothing to fight off the grin on his face.

"Speaking of stupid movies, I feel like that one-dimensional friend third wheeling their friend's date just to be the comic relief in a romantic comedy," Stacie said in amusement.

"You're not third wheeling this date," the two said in unison.

"Because you're part of the date—" Jesse continued. "Because it's not a date—" Beca said at the same time.

"It _is_ a date, Babe," Stacie told her.

"Thank you, Jesse, for trying to include me. I appreciate it but I knew what I was up for the minute your girlfriend told me you're coming."

"Wait, does this mean this was our first date, technically?" Beca said in realization.

"Yeah, technically," Jesse affirmed. "First one outside your apartment."

"I had fun," she told him.

"Me, too." He leaned in to place a quick kiss on her lips.

"You're welcome," Stacie chimed in. "Now take me home before you start humping. I really rather not stay for that when not going to be a part of it."

Seeing that they've both finished eating, Jesse started the car, heading towards Stacie's house.

* * *

After failing to convince Beca that she should go home in the Uber he ordered, the two headed back to the nightclub to get his car.

Stacie told him he could drive her car back in the morning but he didn't want to leave his car in the nightclub's parking lot for the night so he declined.

Beca insisted on tagging along and he didn't fight her.

They got in the uber he initially ordered for her, went to the nightclub, got in his car, and drove to Beca's apartment.

"Tonight was a lot of fun. Thank you for inviting me," Jesse said as Beca undid her seatbelt.

"Thank _you_ for coming." She leaned over. He met her halfway, kissing her.

Jesse frowned when she climbed on his lap, kissing him forcefully.

He cupped her face, pulling away. "You should go get some sleep," he swallowed because it was extremely hard to say those words when he wanted to do the exact same thing she wanted. "It's late."

"I don't want to go to sleep," she breathlessly said, leaning in just enough their noses touched. "I want you."

"Believe me; I want _you_ just as much." He caressed her cheek. "But we can't. Not tonight. Not in my car. And definitely not upstairs."

She was very drunk so keeping low would be nearly impossible and he really didn't want Aiden to learn about their relationship that way.

"Besides, I don't know about you but I don't think our first time postpartum should be like _this." _He paused when she rolled her eyes. "Don't do that. I know you're drunk and putting off sex for that reason might seem dumb but to me, it's not dumb." He continued as he caressed her cheek. "It's gonna different. I don't remember what sex was like before you got pregnant."

She told him it was great.

"But I'm sure that it's gonna be different from that, too… I guess what I'm trying to say is that we both have to be aware of how likely it is that we won't have the best time." He was ranting and hoped she'd understand why he didn't want them to have sex. "Add sneaking around because we're trying not to get caught and you being wasted into the mix and the odds of it _not_ being good increase." He really wanted to minimize the chances of bad sex for the simple reason being that he didn't want to disappoint her. "I promise I'll make it up to you tomorrow," he added because he could tell that she was not having it.

"You better keep that promise, Swanson," she mumbled, distancing herself from him and resting her hands on his shoulders.

"I will," he assured although he had no idea how or when. His day was full the next day but he just knew that he was going to find time to rock his girlfriend's world.

"Okay," she sighed, surprisingly taking it well. He didn't expect her to be rational when she was so drunk.

She leaned in for a kiss, less forcefully, "Good night."

He kissed her back with so much restraint— he thought he deserved an award of sort for his self-control.

Beca climbed of off him and unlocked the door.

"Night," he smiled, waving at her once she was on the sidewalk.

"I really hate you right now," she grumbled before turning on her heels.

He watched her stumble in the direction of the apartment complex and when she walked inside, he took off.


	13. Chapter 13

"You're going out again?" Beca asked, leaning against the doorway of Aiden's bedroom while Jesse changed having had a quick shower after spending the day at the beach with his son.

The day at the beach went really well. Jesse had fun playing soccer with Aiden as well as Aiden's friends.

"Yeah. Chicago has two extra tickets to the basketball game," Jesse explained. "We'll be home before eight," he informed.

"Cool," Beca replied. "Have fun." She smiled curtly at him before she turned on her heels.

Jesse caught up with her and wrapped an arm around her waist from behind. "Not as much fun we'll be having later," he mumbled, nuzzling her cheek.

"I don't stay up late," she said in response to which he chuckled.

He tilted his head to kiss her quickly on the lips before he placed a kiss on his daughter's forehead.

* * *

The father and son crashed right after dinner, their exhaustion from long but super fun day catching up with them.

Beca only noticed that they'd fallen asleep when she heard soft snoring from her boyfriend.

Aiden was leaning against his father, fast asleep. Jesse was resting his head against the sofa, holding Rosalie against his chest. The baby girl was curled up with her head rested on her father's shoulder.

She grabbed the remote control and turned off the TV while wondering how long ago she could have stopped watching the movie.

As soon as she got up, Beca decided that a picture had to be taken. Shortly after commemorating the scene in front of her, she placed her phone on the coffee table then walked up to Aiden, gently shaking him. "Aiden, you fell asleep on the sofa. Go to bed, buddy," she quietly said then stepped back when he sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"Careful," she mumbled as he stumbled walking to his bedroom.

She then took Rosalie from her father, waking Jesse up in the process. Beca placed a quick peck on his forehead before she went to put Rosalie in her crib.

* * *

"You're leaving?" Beca wondered, watching Jesse walk out of the bathroom.

"No, I just had to wash up." He stretched.

"You should go get some sleep," she told him when he yawned.

"Not until I fulfill my promise." He threw an arm around her. "I am a man of my word, babe."

"You're really tired, Jesse," she stated the obvious.

"Yeah. Still." He shrugged. "Sexy time alert!"

"You're such a dork," she snorted.

"Come, on." Jesse wasted no time, taking her hand and leading the way to her bedroom.

* * *

His girlfriend was happy and that made him happy.

Jesse pressed Beca against his chest as they recovered and could feel her smile against him.

"Good call yesterday." She patted his chest, tilting her head to look at him. "I'll take sober sex over sloppy drunk hookup any day." Beca leaned up just enough to peck his lips before she rested her chin on his chest.

"You're welcome," he jokingly said, snorting when she lightly slapped.

"Why are you doing that with your face?" she asked, gesturing at his face.

"What?" he asked.

"You have a serious stoner look in your eyes: drowsy and all smiles," she described.

"We just had sex for the first time in months and it was awesome for lack of a better word. I believe a dopamine overdose is why I can't keep a smile off my face," he yawned, rubbing his eyes.

"You really are struggling to keep your eyes open, aren't you?" she figured, sitting up.

"I wouldn't say struggling." Jesse wouldn't deny it, his fatigue was catching up with him.

"Get some sleep," she mumbled, placing a peck on his temple before she climbed out of bed.

He watched her wear her robe before she left the room then closed his eyes.

Jesse sighed, hearing Rosalie wake up, and willed himself to get up and see why his baby girl was fussing.

* * *

"Did we wake her up?" He heard Beca wonder as she entered the room.

"No, she just hungry, I think," Jesse replied. "I changed her diapers," he yawned, rocking Rosalie in his arms.

"She didn't finish her bottle before going to sleep," Beca mumbled taking Rosalie from Jesse. She stroked her hair when the little girl buried her face in her mother's chest.

"I'll go get her a bottle," Jesse figured before he paced out of the bedroom, fetching one of the bottles of stored milk from the fridge and heating it up for Rosalie.

As soon as he handed Beca the bottle, Rosalie lashed on to it. "I'm sorry, honey," Beca sighed, rubbing her thumb against her baby's cheek. "But you're not getting drunk until you're much much older."

"When will your milk supply clear up?" Jesse wondered.

"Hopefully next time I pump would be the last time it goes down the sink. I shouldn't have had that much to drink."

"There's still milk in the fridge. Rosalie is covered for at least two days," he assured.

"Nursing is more than sustenance, Jesse. Feeling close to me brings her a sense of comfort and safety. She goes back to sleep right away," she explained, feeling him place a small peck on her temple.

"Well, then I think you should figure out another way to get her to fall asleep fast…I sing to her and it usually works."

"What do you sing to her?" Beca wondered.

"All kinds of songs."

Beca nodded then went quiet for a few seconds before she began singing _can't take my eyes off you_ under her breath. Her singing caught Rosalie's attention who kept looking at her in the dim light as she nursed.

"It's working," Beca said in surprise when Rosalie began to fall asleep.

"Keep going." Jesse squeezed her shoulder then walked out of the room to grab his phone, getting an idea.

When he came back, Beca was putting Rosalie back in her crib.

"What are you doing?" Beca whispered.

"_We_ are dancing," he answered as he plugged her earphones to his phone then looked for _can't take my eyes off you._

"Dancing?" she echoed in confusion.

"Uh-huh." He wore an earphone and held the other one for her.

"Why?" she questioned, frowning when he shrugged.

"Humor me?" he said when she didn't take the earphone from him.

Beca sighed and wore the earphone.

Jesse rested the hand that was holding the phone against the small of her back and held her hand with his other hand.

He hummed along to the song, smiling at her because she really was a good sport and rolled with his ideas even the most absurd ones.

Once the song reached the chorus, he began to sing along all the while holding her gaze and hoping she'd get that he really meant what he was singing.

_I love you baby  
And if it's quite all right  
I need you baby  
To warm the lonely nights  
I love you baby  
Trust in me when I say_

She dropped the hand that was on his shoulder as a frown formed on her forehead. "I'm gonna go to bed." She removed the earphone from her ear and placed it in the palm of his hand.

"Wait," Jesse called, pressing his hand against her back.

"Jesse, it's late. Let's just go to bed-"

"I love you," he blurted out. "I'm in love with you… So in love with you."

It felt so good to finally tell her but the blank look she had on her face couldn't be a good sign and Jesse knew he had to act fast.

"It's okay if you don't feel as strongly about me." He dropped the hand that he had pressed against the small of her back to let her walk away if she wanted. She just stood there looking at him blanking while he talked. "I just had to let you know. I love you much."

He had no idea what to do next. "I should go," he figured. "Yup. I'll just head out." He swallowed, nodding to himself before he left the room.

Jesse sat down on the sofa and ran a hand over his face before he rested his head against it and closed his eyes.

He was a little startled when a few minutes later he felt Beca sit next to him.

"No one ever said that to me before," she finally said. "No one I dated I mean," she added.

"Their loss. Cause honestly loving you is one of the best things that ever happened to me."

"God, you're so corny." She rubbed her face.

"I mean it. And I stand by it." He shrugged.

She was quiet for what felt like hours but was actually less than a minute before she spoke again. "Why?"

"What do you mean?" He sat up.

"Why would you say that? How does one even know they're in love?"

"I said that because that's how I feel and you should know. And to answer your second question, I believe it's different for everyone." he sat up. "I knew I loved you when I thought I lost you…at the hospital. It really made me realize that you really are a big part of my life. Shit, you're the first person I saw when I woke up. Now that I think about it, I think it was love at first sight… I miss you when you're not around. You're the only person whose opinion really matters to me. You're the only person that I want to talk about everything and anything," he sighed because it felt so good to pour his heart out. "You could rip my heart out and I would be okay with that…because that's love, baby." he smiled at her, realizing that she was looking at him.

"Are you crying?" he asked, hearing a sniffle. It was quite dark in the room, he couldn't really see her face that well.

"No," she answered, sniffling. "Okay, yes," she admitted. "And it's your fault." Beca used the back of her hand to wipe her cheeks.

"How is it my fault?"

"You can't say stuff like that to me and expect me not to cry."

"You asked," he said in mock defensiveness and could tell it earned him an eye roll.

She quiet yet again for a few seconds making Jesse wish he could read minds.

Beca blew a breath before she spoke. "I think about you all the time when you're not around. And I miss you when you're not around. I don't mind listening to you talk about movies you're obsessed with and I sit through them because you just want to share your interests with me and that makes me for some reason happy. Those elaborate _indoor_ dates you come up with make me happy. You make me happy, dude. The thought of how perfectly you fit into my life is so frightening and overwhelming yet I never want you to leave. You're the only guy that I genuinely like giving head to. And if any of this means love then I guess I'm in love with you, too."

He had a huge grin on his face when he picked her up and sat her on his lap, hugging her tightly and kissing her everywhere.

"I love you so much," he said when she cupped his face to make him stop.

"I love you, too, nerd." She leaned in and kissed him.

He couldn't believe his ears. His very reluctant and very anxious girlfriend loved him and that was just awesome.

Things got heated up quite fast and even though they'd just had sex and he was tired, Jesse was up for another round. Beca broke the kiss, sniffling as she caressed his hair. He could tell her hands were shaking so he reached for her free hand and took it in his. He had to take her mind off whatever anxiety-driven scenario was going through her head. "I'm the only guy really like giving me head to, huh?" he smirked.

"You're never gonna let that go are you?" she deadpanned.

"I don't think I will," he grinned, rubbing his thumb against her knuckles.

"I like making you feel good." She shrugged.

"The feeling is mutual, babe."

She pulled her head back when he leaned in for a kiss. "You need to catch some sleep."

"I don't wanna sleep, I want you," he mumbled paraphrasing her drunk words from the night before.

"Dude, you're about to pass out." She chuckled when he pouted. "You'll probably pass out on top of me and I don't wanna take that chance." Beca placed a small kiss on his lips.

Jesse was about to let her know that he disagreed when a yawned interrupted him.

He buried his face in her neck and hugged her, closing his eyes as he felt her fingers caress his hair.

"You're falling asleep aren't you?" Beca knowingly said.

"No," he grumbled, pulling his head back.

She patted his cheek and got up, "I'll go get you a blanket."

While she went to grab a blanket for him, he made himself comfortable. He couldn't bring himself to open his eyes as he felt Beca throw a blanket over him. "Goodnight," he mumbled when he received a small kiss on his forehead.

* * *

"I feel like I was run over by a car," Aiden grumbled, resting his head against the kitchen counter.

"You had quite the day yesterday." Beca ruffled his hair after she set her daughter's bottle on the counter, sitting next to him while holding Rosalie in her arm.

"Everything aches," he complained. "and because that's not enough, I got sunburn all over my back." He sat up and brought a spoonful of cereal to his mouth. "I don't understand how you woke up feeling fine, Dad" he added, eyeing his father who was singing under his breath as he made pancakes.

"I'm very tired but it doesn't really bother me." Jesse shrugged. "As for the sunburn, unlike you and your mother, I'm not allergic to sunlight."

"I'm sorry you got the sucky skin tone, buddy," Beca apologetically said. "I hope this one, doesn't end being pale, too." It was still tough to tell which features dominated. Beca really hoped Rosalie didn't get both her height and skin tone.

Jesse turned off the stove before he placed a batch of pancakes on the counter.

"Give me this one," he said in sing-sang, taking Rosalie from Beca. "And, bon appetit," he added, gesturing at the pancakes.

"You're not gonna eat?" Beca wondered, pulling the pancakes towards her.

"No, I ate earlier." He kissed Rosalie on the cheek.

Jesse actually made the pancakes specifically for Beca. It was her favorite breakfast food And because he couldn't exactly bring her breakfast to bed like the hopeless romantic he was in as a _cute_ romantic gesture, he settled for just making her what she liked to eat the most for breakfast.

He couldn't wait to do all sorts of romantic relationships things with her without worrying about getting caught by their son. They hadn't talked about it but it was pretty obvious now that they'd tell him given the turn of events the night before.

"Go back to bed and rest for the day, Aiden," Beca said, eyeing the boy who had just rested his head yet again against the counter.

"I can't," he mumbled. "Stephanie's birthday is tomorrow and I haven't gotten her a present yet." He sighed.

"Stephanie… that's the little Latina, right?" Jesse was still getting to know his son's friends. The whole point of the day at the beach the day before was so that he'd get to know his friends better. They were his friends since his first day in elementary school and were important to him, therefore, Jesse needed to know them.

"Yeah," Aiden confirmed.

"She's extremely good at soccer," Jesse noted. "Is she on the soccer team? I hope she is."

Beca chuckled before saying, "I remember a time when how good she is at that sport bruised Aiden's ego."

"Really now," Jesse said in light of the new information.

"I was seven, mom." The boy looked up.

She snorted, caressing his hair. "What are you getting her?"

"I don't know. I was hoping you'd help me out actually."

"She's your friend, how could I possibly know what to get her?"

"Because she's a girl. And you'd know better."

"Because I'm a woman?" she said in disbelief.

"Okay, now that I've said it out loud I can see that it's very sexist and would like to apologize." He reached over to hug his mother. "I'm sorry. I'm just tired and everything hurts and I need you, mom. Please, help me."

"Apology accepted," she sighed, gently patting his back. "I'll help you find your friend a birthday present."

"Thank you." He placed a kiss on her cheek before he pulled away.

"We'll head out to the mall later and find her something," she figured. "Finish breakfast and go take a cool shower. We'll moisturize your back, it should help a little with the sunburn."

"While you guys go shop for a birthday present, Rosalie and I are gonna go check on the house." He placed a kiss on her head. "See if all the rats and mice died!"

"That sounds like a fun bonding activity," Beca deadpanned.

"I know right," he mumbled, kissing the baby again.

* * *

"When do you wanna tell him?" Jesse wondered as soon as Aiden entered the bathroom to shower.

"I don't know." Beca shrugged, picking up the empty plate once she finished eating as well as the glass in which she had orange juice, and got up.

Jesse didn't like the dismissive tone of her voice. "You want him to know, though?" He watched her wash the dirty dishes.

"Of course." She paused. "I said we wait until it's serious. Last night was pretty much the affirmation of how serious things are getting."

"Last night was pretty awesome," he found himself grinning just thinking about it.

"Yeah." He could tell she was smiling just from the way she said the word.

"Do you think he'll take it well?" she wondered moments later.

"Oh yeah," he replied.

"We kept this from him for a long time."

"I'm not worried and neither should you be." He really hated how bad her anxiety would get sometimes. "Tell you what? I'll go check on the house then meet you at the mall. We'll spend some family quality time and tell him over dinner," he suggested.

"No, that's too much." She shook her head. "Aiden is like me… he needs time to get used to new things."

"He didn't seem to need time to adjust to having his sister."

"It's different." She turned around once she finished washing the dishes. "This is big, Jesse. Having a sister is nothing like your parents getting together."

"What do you suggest we do then?"

"We just tell him and try not to shove the _new_ dynamic of our relationship down his throat."

"How exactly are we gonna go about not shoving our relationship down his throat?" He arched an eyebrow.

"No PDA in front of him. You won't sleep in my bed when you spend the night here. And definitely no_ family quality_ _time_ until he gets used us being together."

"Cool. Cool. Cool," he nodded. "Yeah, that sounds reasonable."

"You don't really mean that," she said in amusement. "I know Aiden. He will need time to get used to us dating. So, just trust me on this one."

"I'm sorry," he apologized for the sarcastic tone that he couldn't control. "I do trust your judgment. I just thought it would be easier than _that_."

"It is _never_ easy, Jess. Not around here," she apologetically said.

* * *

"Found dead rats, I hope," Beca said letting Jesse into the apartment.

He handed her Rosalie when the baby reached out her hands towards her mother. "Plenty of dead rats." He pulled his phone from his pocket. "I took pictures."

"Yeah, I don't want to look at them."

"I do," Aiden chimed in from his seat on the sofa.

Jesse made his way to where his son laid on his stomach and handed him his cellphone.

"Did you find something for you friend?" He wondered, sitting down next to his son once the boy made room for him.

"Yup." Aiden handed him his cellphone back. "She likes the office so much so we got her the entirety of the show on Blu ray."

Jesse looked up when Beca tossed takeout menus on the coffee table. "We're having pizza for dinner tonight," she told him.

"Figure out which topping you two want and order it. I want extra cheese."

"I can cook if you don't feel like making dinner," Jesse offered.

"I asked if we could have pizza for dinner and mom said yes," Aiden told him.

"Oh, okay," Jesse smiled, meeting Beca's gaze.

She was letting Aiden have take out because they were telling him about their relationship and she was anxious about it.

* * *

Aiden had a blank look similar to the one Beca had when he told how he felt about her.

Jesse glanced at Beca then back at Aiden and decided to let Beca do most of the talking. She knew Aiden way better than him. He figured he'd chime in when needed but otherwise keep his mouth shut.

"For how long?" Aiden finally asked.

"Almost seven months. Your dad asked me out the day we found out that we're having a girl. We didn't start dating until the day after thanksgiving," Beca informed.

"Why tell me now? Why did you keep this from me for the past seven months?" his voice was so quiet, Jesse didn't know what to make out of it.

"Because we figured—_I_ figured we'd wait and see if things would get serious between us."

Aiden nodded his head before saying. "Does this mean you're going to get married?"

"No," Beca said. "Eventually," Jesse found himself saying at the same time.

Beca tilted her head to look at Jesse and shot him a confused look. "We haven't talked about it," he smiled tightly, meeting his son's gaze.

"Yeah," Beca slowly said. "It's pretty early for a conversation _like_ that."

"How serious then?"

Jesse could swear Beca was blushing when she cleared her throat before mumbling the words, "Love kinda serious."

He found her awkwardness adorable.

"Love," Aiden echoed.

Beca nodded her head, clenching her hand into a fist. Jesse took that as a cue to speak.

"Your mom is weird about it because it's still new," he explained.

"I'm not," she denied it.

"You kinda are, mom," Aiden said in amusement.

"Are we gonna move in with dad now?" he proceeded to ask his mother.

"No," Beca replied.

"Okay," Aiden leaned back before he inhaled deeply. "I really didn't think this would happen. I mean, I used to think about you guys getting together. But I haven't _in years_."

"I know," Beca sighed.

"I didn't think this would happen either," she mumbled. "I know it's a lot to take in and I want you to know that we get it." Jesse nodded as she spoke. "It's gonna take some time to get used to _this_."

"I'm happy for you, mom" Aiden then said, holding his mother's gaze. "I'm glad you found someone. That someone being dad is just a bonus," he continued, looking at his father. "Same for you, dad."

"Thank you, Aiden." Jesse smiled at the boy who had just pulled his mother into a much-needed hug.

Beca hugged Aiden tightly for several seconds before she extended her hand, pulling Jesse into the hug.


	14. Chapter 14

It was his last meeting for the day and Jesse was struggling to stay focused and not let his mind wander off. The text he received from Beca during his lunch break made it pretty damn hard to stay focused for sure.

She sent him a selfie of herself and Rosalie where the mother was imitating the little girl pout with the caption: we miss you.

Even though they talked over the phone every day and texted throughout the day quite a lot, he missed Beca and their little peanut so much. Aiden slept over at his place a few days and he was very grateful that the boy did because he could not stand being at his house alone.

Jesse hadn't seen Beca nor Rosalie in person in almost a week and it was a true testament of his patience that he hadn't cracked. There were several instances where he seriously considered if it mattered that he was around for a table read or if he really needed a storyboard artist to draw the broken down scenes. He'd dismiss those thoughts of course because pre-production was very important and he really had to be present even if it meant that he wouldn't see his family for five days in a row.

Jesse would finish late every day then meet up different members of the production team as well as actors who he couldn't say no hanging out with. They were happy to be working with him and so was he. Being a people pleaser didn't help either. He'd consider driving to Beca's place every night then decide against it because he'd know she would be asleep by then. The drive from her apartment to work would require an early rise and he couldn't really wake up early when he's going to bed late every night. He'd be cranky and thus wouldn't give his best.

Jesse felt like breaking into song as he walked out of the building done for the day and extremely excited for the weekend.

Rush hour had to, of course, ruin his good mood but he tried not to get too pissed off at every asshole that cut him off.

He made it to his girlfriend's apartment at 7:10 pm and despite the headache that rush hour gave him, he couldn't help but smile when Beca got the door.

He couldn't stop smiling when she kissed him before he even got inside the apartment. "Hi," he greeted when she pulled away way sooner than he would have liked and enveloped her in a bear hug.

"You look nice," he told Beca taking in her appearance once he let go. She was sporting in a worn-out college t-shirt of hers and a pair of cotton shorts. "I brushed my hair today I'm glad it made a difference," she deadpanned locking the door and feeling his gaze as he checked her out.

"No, seriously, you really do," he mumbled, still checking her out.

"Thanks," she smiled curtly at him, meeting his gaze. "Come on, Rosalie is gonna be really happy to see you, that if she hasn't forgotten what you look like."

"Hey, I've been gone for five days. She's not gonna forget what her father looks like in five days… right ?" He followed Beca further inside the apartment and quickly spotted Rosalie in her brother's arms as he sat on the couch.

"There she is," he mumbled, chuckling a little when Rosalie reached out her hands for him to pick her up. He held her above his head and spun her around briefly before holding her close to his chest. "God, I missed this smell," he was saying as he inhaled deeply the extremely pleasant scent of his baby girl. Jesse sat down next to Aiden sighing in content. He was home—home being his family and not the actual apartment—and he didn't want to be anywhere else. He played with Rosalie and chatted a little with Aiden about their day then went to see if Beca needed his help with dinner. She was almost done so he just helped set up the table then played with Rosalie some more.

After dinner, Beca went to get Rosalie ready for bed while Jesse and Aiden cleaned up the table and washed the dishes.

"How about we rent a horror movie and scare ourselves before bed, what do you think?" Jesse was saying as he dried the plates Aiden washed.

"I think I'm gonna call it an early night actually," Aiden said in response.

"Right, got a big day ahead of you tomorrow," Jesse smiled at his son. "Spoiler alert, we went all out!" Aiden was turning 16. Beca didn't say no when Jesse suggested they threw him a big party but she did have a say in the budgeting because according to her he had a tendency to be careless with money.

Together with Chloe, who offered to help him with planning and also dealing with Beca once he went over budget, he organized a pretty awesome party for his son.

"You go ahead and rent the movie, though. I'm sure mom would love it especially if it's a campy slasher." Jesse watched Aiden grab a cloth to dry his hands once he was done.

"Campy slasher," he echoed. "Duly noted."

"Night, Dad," the boy smiled at his father before headed to his room.

"Hey, Bec, do you have any popcorn kernels left? I couldn't find any," Jesse was saying as he entered the bedroom. "Shit, sorry," he said in a much lower voice seeing that Beca was holding Rosalie against her chest, gently patting and rocking the little girl. "It's behind the Cereal box," she mumbled, glancing at him briefly.

He nodded to himself as he went to look for something comfortable to change into in his drawer. He had a drawer in her closet for about a month and from the number of clothes he left behind he was going to need a second drawer—he really had to take some of his clothes back to his place.

By the time Jesse finished getting dressed Rosalie was sound asleep in her crib. "She puked on you?" he guessed, watching Beca tug at her t-shirt to take it off.

"Yeah," she answered, tossing her t-shirt in the dirty clothes basket and stepping in front of her wardrobe.

Looking at her, Jesse found himself wondering if a day would come where he wouldn't find his girlfriend of nearly eight months attractive. He'd seen her body go through different changes in almost a year and it never affected his attraction to her.

He wrapped an arm around her waist, placing a peck on her cheek after she wore the clean tank-top she grabbed from the closet.

"How's your schedule for next week, Jess?" He heard Beca ask as he nuzzled her cheek.

"Not as full as this one that's for sure," he answered. "I won't let work keep me from seeing you, guys, again," he assured, loosening his hold and watching her turn on her heels to face him.

"Says the guy who will be gone for at least a month next fall to film somewhere on the other side of the country," she deadpanned, cupping his cheek and patting it.

"Three weeks," he informed as his eyes traveled down to her cleavage. "We finished detailing the shooting schedule yesterday. It's gonna be three weeks' worth of shooting days." He looked back up and held her gaze briefly before his eyes differed to her lips.

"Same difference, dude." She lightly slapped him.

"Aw, Becs, you really missed me this week, didn't you?" He pulled her closer to him, taking her free hand in his while he rested his other hand on the small of her back.

"No shit, captain obvious." She wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"Texting me a really cute selfie of yourself and our little bundle of joy pouting with the caption 'we miss you' is very different from actually letting me know that you missed me."

"I'm confused," she frowned.

"Babe, I love you but you really have your own way of communication. If it's not coated in a hundred layers of sarcasm, it's a watered-down version of whatever it is you're trying to say. Point is you're not the most straightforward person when it comes to expressing your feelings." He didn't mean to hurt her feelings but he could tell he did. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"I'm not upset." She was and she wasn't even trying to hide it. He could tell because was pulling away from him, dropping the arm that was around his shoulder and pulling her hand from his. "I'm just reflecting." Beca shrugged, running her fingers through her hair.

"You're sarcastic, Becs. Your sense of humor is one of the many things I love about you." He dropped the hand that he was resting against the small of her back to give her personal space. "I will never ask you to change who you are but it would be cool if you let me know how you feel spontaneously." They had a similar conversation about the lack of communication from her end earlier on in their relationship and there was some improvement since but he still did the most effort between the two of them.

She was quiet for a few seconds before she spoke, "This past week made me realize how much you actually do around here. I suppose I haven't communicated how much I've missed you because I couldn't stop thinking about how missing you might a sign of codependency," she uneasily said as she crossed her arms across her chest. "I'm worried I'm becoming too dependent on you, dude."

"You're not codependent ." Just extremely anxious. "You're just a late bloomer when it comes to love and relationships," he reasoned. "As much I'd love to be able to read your thoughts, I can't. We'll just have to talk about how you're feeling and work it through."

She nodded slowly, biting her bottom lip as she looked at the floor. He couldn't read her mind. But if he was reading into her body language correctly Beca's thoughts were very likely spiraling.

Jesse enveloped her in a hug given that it seemed to be a quite efficient way to help make her feel less anxious.

"Are we spending too much time together, Jess?" she quietly wondered. "Is that why five days without seeing you felt like such a long time?"

Jesse thought about her question for a few seconds before he answered, "No, I don't think we're spending too much time together." He rested his chin on her head as he rubbed her back. "I would start to worry if our relationship became our sole focus in life and we were glued to the hip," he told her. "I mean, don't get me wrong. Our relationship is very important to me but so are the kids and my job," he added, pulling his head back to look at her.

"Do you feel like we're spending too much time together?" He tucked her hair behind her ear and watched her shake her head.

"I'm glad we agree." She had a tendency to overthink a lot and it made sense given how anxiety-ridden she was. He didn't exactly know how to help her get rid of her anxieties but so far being reasonable and reassuring seemed to ease her mind a little. And also hugs and kisses... Affection, in general, helped her get off the anxiety hamster wheel.

"Me, too," Beca smiled at him. "Hey, wait a minute." She paused. "Why were you asking about popcorn when you came into the room?" she asked. "You don't seriously want to watch a movie right now, do you?" she continued in disbelief.

"Eh, yes?" he replied. "I thought you, Aiden, and I could watch a horror movie together," he told her. "Aiden went to bed, so it'll be just us."

"Nope." She shook her head. "I'm not going to sit through a movie tonight."

"Not even if we make out for most of the runtime?"

"I'm not going to compromise on this. Get your ass to bed," she firmly said, nodding at the bed.

"This is new." He frowned a little. "And, I'm very into it." He walked backward until his legs hit the bed. He then pulled his t-shirt over his head, tossed it aside and hopped on the bed. "Take me, Mr. Grey," Jesse dramatically and suggestively said as he rested his weight on his elbows.

"How am I attracted to you?" Beca wondered. Jesse shrugged in response; He might love her sarcasm but his sense of humor wasn't her favorite thing about him.

"Are you going to go get the whips?" he hissed the last word. "Just so you know, I have sensitive skin, so be gentle," he was saying as she made her way to the door to lock it. "There's also the fact that I've never done this before. But I read Fifty Shades of Grey so I think I'm ready." He borrowed it from Stacie who was more than happy to share it with him. "I actually brought the book to my therapist because I wanted to hear what her diagnosis of the main characters would be and it wasn't good. No one in that book is a hundred percent OK in the head."

"No one in that book is real." He watched her make her way to the bed.

"The author paints it out to look romantic. It's very problematic. Saying it's just fiction is a cop-out. Abusive relationships shouldn't be romanticized."

"Babe, no one cares about the plot. People read it for porn."

"I care about the plot in porn." He Shrugged as she climbed on top of him.

"Yeah, I know," she sighed, thinking back at the time he texted her a link to a porno because he wanted her to talk about the inaccuracies he found in it—it was a vintage porno from the 80s about a horny housewife and plumper. "But that's because you're a weirdo." She playfully slapped him on the cheek.

"Do that again," he perked up like a puppy. "Harder, baby," he grinned, noting that she was trying really hard to hold back a chuckle.

"How about I kiss you instead?" she mumbled, creasing his hair. They were already talking low voices because Rosalie was asleep a few feet away from them but her voice was barely audible.

"Yeah, I'd like that," he nodded rapidly.

* * *

Jesse and Chloe organized a very successful pool party for Aiden's birthday. He might have got carried away when he was buying all the summer inflammables but as he looked around him at the palm trees, beach balls, and flamingos he knew his money was well spent.

There was something for everyone to snack on, both junk food and healthier options. Sweet, savory, and salty.

The music was banging.

The adults attending Aiden's birthday party appreciated the bartender's presence that provided all kinds of cocktails—the kids got to taste virgin versions of the drinks.

Jesse really went all out and he hadn't received too much heat for it from Beca as he expected. She couldn't be mad at him for going over the budget even if she tried. Aiden was having the time of his life. Every penny was worth it.

Jesse got a reminder that he's getting old when he needed a break from playing with the kids. He was in pretty decent shape but he couldn't keep up with a bunch of teenagers. He also could use a snack. Jesse made his way to the snacks corner where Beca was currently standing.

"Don't," Beca mumbled through a mouthful of hot dog, seeing that Jesse had a water gun in his hand.

"Wasn't going to do anything, relax," he snorted, placing the water gun on the table. "I'm just here for a snack, assuming you left some for the rest of us," he deadpanned and received a glare. "I'm kidding," he added, grabbing a couple of pigs in a blanket and tossing them in his mouth while running his fingers through his wet hair.

"Like what you see, Becs," he asked realizing that his girlfriend was checking him out.

"You look like a wet dog," she told him.

"Dogs are adorable therefore I'm going to take it as a compliment," he decided, grinning at her.

"Here." She handed him a towel as she tossed the last of her hot dog in her mouth.

"Thanks." He patted himself with it then used it to dry off his hair before he threw the towel around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

"Jesse, you're still wet," she said as she tried not to let their bodies get any closer. "Your trunks are dripping."

"Beca, we're in the middle of the summer. It's okay if you got a little water on your cute little dress. Relax, would you?"

He lowered his head a little when she let out a small sigh.

"You look hot," he told her, admiring the effort she put into looking presentable. "Too hot if we're being honest." He leaned forward.

She gently pushed him away so that he was no longer in her personal space.

He looked in the direction he saw her glance at and made more space between them, seeing that it was their son, who wasn't even looking at them.

"About time she woke up," Beca mumbled hearing Rosalie fuss over the baby monitor. She grabbed it and paced into the house.

Jesse blew a breath, throwing the towel on a nearby chair and turning on his heels to go get a drink.

"Everything okay, Jesse?" He heard a slightly worried Chloe say and guessed she saw the brief interaction he had with Beca.

"Eh, yeah," he nodded, bringing the cocktail the bartender had just made him to his lips. "Everything is more than okay," he assured when she didn't seem to believe him. "We organized a dope party," Jesse grinned at the redhead.

"Totes," Chloe smiled, letting it go.

Jesse knew how Beca felt about public display of affection so he wasn't really mad or anything about her refusal to let him kiss her. However, he was a little bummed out that it's been almost a month since Aiden learned about their relationship and she's yet to deem it appropriate for them to act like a couple around him.

He smiled broadly when Beca came back holding Rosalie in her arms and smiled even harder when the little girl beamed noticing him. Her reaction to seeing him never failed to warm his heart.

"Look who finally came down to party with the rest of us," he was saying as he walked towards Beca. "Fashionably late 'cause you're a cool kid, huh?" his quip earned him an eye roll from Beca.

Jesse placed a kiss on his daughter's head before he straightened up, hearing the doorbell ring. "I'll get it," he announced, bringing his cocktail to his lips as he started to make his way to the front door.

"Hi," he slowly said, greeting a couple of people at his door that he failed to recognize.

"Hello, Jesse," the woman spoke, eyeing him up and down.

"Eloise," he realized, spotting the very similar eyes the woman had to his son and girlfriend. "I didn't think you'd show up," he admitted. "Uh, come on in," he added, stepping back and glancing at the man Eloise brought with her then at the car parked outside with a huge ribbon on its hood. "Is that for Aiden?" he frowned.

"Yes," Eloise replied.

"Okay," he mumbled, wondering how Beca was going to take the fact that her mother who she barely talked to was gifting Aiden a car especially when he ran the idea of getting the boy a car by her and she said no.

"Hi, nice to meet you," the man smiled, extending his hand for a shake. "I'm Marco."

"Jesse." Jesse reciprocated the smile as he tried not to think too hard about why a fairly attractive young man with a rather thick Italian accent was hanging out with a middle-aged woman.

"Mom?" Beca called, having stepped into the house. "What are you doing here?" she bluntly asked.

"I'm here for my grandson's birthday," Eloise said to her only child who was eyeing her boyfriend silently asking him why she wasn't made aware of the fact that her mother was on the guest list.

"And to meet my granddaughter at last," she added, shifting her gaze to Rosalie who was in her mother's arm.

"Party is in the backyard," Beca stiffly said before she walked away in the direction of the stairs and Jesse could tell that she wasn't having it.

Jesse walked Eloise and Marco to the backyard. "Amy," he discreetly called the Aussie who happened to be nearby. "Keep Eloise from talking to Aiden until I'm back."

"Can't make you promises but I will try," she replied without asking questions.

"Thanks," he handed her the cocktail he'd been drinking and rushed back into the house.

Jesse found Beca in his bedroom. She was sitting on the bed with her back to the door and had Rosalie on her lap.

He knocked on the door to make his presence known and watched her tilt her head, "Hey," he mumbled walking into the room. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you that I invited your mom. I honestly didn't think she'd show up."

"It's okay." She shrugged and got up.

"Are you okay, though?" he wondered, standing in front of her.

"Yeah, I just needed a minute alone," she told him. "Well, kinda alone." She rubbed her thumb against Rosalie's cheek.

"I understand," Jesse sighed, throwing an arm around Beca.

"You smell like bleach," she mumbled against his chest.

"I was in the pool." He sniffled himself before he placed a peck on her head.

He heard her exhale loudly before she said, "come on, let's go."

"Um, before we go, you should know that your mom is giving Aiden a car for his birthday," he let her know as she pulled away.

"She's doing what now?" she said in disbelief.

"It's parked outside."

"Okay." Beca sucked in a deep breath. "Take Rosalie." She handed him their baby girl. "I have to go talk to my mother," she grumbled.

"Beca, wait," he called after her, holding his daughter close to his chest. "What do you mean by that?" he asked as he followed her.

She gave him no answer and instead walked faster. Beca had a bit of temper and Jesse was worried she'd get in a fight with her mother. When he caught up with her, Beca Was standing on the last staircase and looking at the front door. Aiden was outside checking out the car his grandmother got for him. If Jesse were to guess, he'd say that Beca changed her mind about whatever talk she was going to have with her mother—or at least postpone it to a later time—seeing her son's reaction to Eloise's present.

Jesse rubbed Beca's back, frowning when he noticed her clenched fist and jaw. It was quite possibly the angriest he'd seen her.

* * *

Jesse glanced inside the house, so grateful for the glass French doors, for the nth time since he started cleaning up the backyard 30 minutes ago. He really wanted to be in the room with the mother and daughter (and extremely clueless granddaughter) but knew it wasn't his place. They need to talk in private. He just hopped Beca wouldn't lash out at her mother and things end badly.

"Where do I put these?" Marco asked after he finished deflating the inflammables.

"Uh, just leave them on the swing. I'll take care of them later," Jesse told him as he placed the disposable tableware in the garbage bag he had in his hand. "Thanks again for the help." Marco really had no reason to help him out with the cleaning yet he offered and was extremely helpful.

Marco waved him off, "You're welcome. I'm glad I can help."

Jesse eyed the man, admiring his objective handsomeness and wondering about the kind of relationship he had with a woman twice his age.

"So, what you do for a living?" Marco casually asked.

"I'm a filmmaker," Jesse curtly said.

"Oh, that's very cool. I work in films, too," Marco beamed. "I've been in two films because my friends asked me to be in them it's fun and I like it. I haven't booked a serious role yet," he shyly said.

Jesse nodded, looking for a way to change the subject because he didn't like the direction it was headed to. He was afraid Marco would ask if there were any roles he could audition for.

"Any tips on how to nail an audition?" Marco earnestly wondered, making Jesse feel bad for assuring the worst-case scenario.

"Just give it your best. Don't let the rejection get to you. Show business is a lot of work and a lot of luck."

Marco nodded his head in response absorbing the advice.

"Marco," Eloise called from inside the house. "Come on, we're leaving," she told him before she turned on her heels, pacing the front door.

"It was very nice meeting you, Jesse," Marco said.

"You, too, man," Jesse replied and watched him jog his way out of the house.

Jesse dropped the garbage bag and cautiously walked into the house, making his way to where his girlfriend was pacing back and forth.

"I let her treat me like shit all these years and tried to be the bigger guy," Beca said once she noticed Jesse's presence. "But I'm not going to let her have this one." She shook her head. "She can't continuously undermine me in front of my own son and get away with it." She titled her head to look at him. "'Cause that's what getting him the car was. It was a power move to rub the fact that I can't afford that sort of thing."

"I can," he injected.

"Yeah, but she knows I wouldn't let you buy him a car." She held her forehead as she stopped walking.

"For someone you're not in touch with, she sure knows a lot about you," he noted. "I take that you're returning the car?"

"Of course, I'm returning the car, Jesse!" she exclaimed. "I have to be the asshole who deprives their kid of the best gift they received for their birthday. I can't win with her! I just can't."

He held his hands up in defeat and watch her sigh. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I shouldn't take it out on you."

"Why don't I go put Rosalie to bed while you grab a drink and relax a little?" he suggested. "I'll give you a neck rub," Jesse added when Beca blankly look at him in silence.

"Okay," she mumbled, running her fingers through her hair.

Rosalie was tired and fell asleep quite fast after a long day of attention from her aunts who at one point seriously got into an argument over who'd have her and Aiden in the events of their parents passing away—yeah, it got dark once they were drunk.

Jesse found Beca cleaning the backyard while drinking directly from a bottle of wine. She held it his way once she saw him.

He shook his head, declining, and watched her bring it to her lips and chug of the liquor.

He wanted to tell her that he'd finish cleaning the next day but could tell that getting drunk on wine while cleaning was quite therapeutic for her.

They finished cleaning the backyard in silence. When Jesse came back after getting the trash out, Beca was sitting on the swing holding a bottle of bourbon this time.

He sat down next to her and threw an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his embrace. "I believe a neck rub is in order."

"No, this is good," she said in response, snuggling up to him.

He ran his hand up and down her arm, lulling to her sleep with the repetitive motion.

"I don't hate her, you know?" she mumbled.

"I know," he placed a small kiss on her forehead as she gulped from the bourbon. "What did you talk about for half an hour?" he quietly asked.

"The car and how she can't buy him things without my permission first," she sighed. "What pisses me off the most is that she acts like she doesn't need my permission just because he's her grandson!"

"Maybe she did that because she knew you wouldn't let me buy him a car?" he suggested, playing the devil's advocate. "I mean we live in L.A., Becs. Can't really go anywhere without a car, so it's understandable she'd think it's a suitable birthday present for a sixteen-year-old."

"Are you seriously taking her side on this?" Beca asked in disbelief as she sat up.

"No, I'm just trying to see it her way. Maybe she's not a monster and maybe just maybe you've been so mad at her for a long time that you subconsciously believe that everything she does has to have a malicious motive behind it."

Beca snorted before she took a sip of bourbon deciding not to respond.

"When was the last time you and your mother had a conversation where you both weren't passive-aggressive towards each other?" he asked.

"I can't remember," she answered.

"I'm not saying I don't understand where you're coming from. Her reasons for disowning you were very petty. She owes a big fat apology for taking her hatred towards your dad on you. I just think that maybe she doesn't really know how to fix things. You tried to halfheartedly mend things with her but you only did it for Aiden and by then you've checked out completely." A lot of what he was saying was based on observation and how well he knew Beca. Confrontation and communication weren't her best suits. He wondered if it was also the case with her mother.

"You're spending too much time with your therapist," she told him.

"Maybe," he smiled a little because he could tell that she was thinking about what he just said. "Or maybe I'm right." He shrugged.

"I don't think you are but I'm willing to humor you," she was saying as she leaned against the swing. "She told me I'm a horrible mother not only because I'm not letting Aiden have the car but also because I choose not to take advantage of your wealth, Jesse." She tucked her foot under her leg as she sat sidesaddle. "Where do we go from here, smartass?"

Jesse rubbed his forehead, finding what she just told him quite upsetting. He might not fully understand nor agreed with Beca's decision not to take child support but he never doubted her parenting chops. If anything living modestly was good for Aiden and it showed a lot. Beca never stopped him going to his father for things yet the boy never asked for anything. "Your mom is the kind of person that says really mean things when she's mad isn't she?" he figured.

"Yeah," she nodded. "I used to do that, too. It was so fucking hard to break that shitty habit."

Jesse eyed his girlfriend as she chugged down whiskey then said, "I know you don't want to be the bigger guy anymore but I really think you should consider trying one more time. We'll have her over for dinner tomorrow and you two can have a proper conversation."

"Jesse, you don't seem to understand that she doesn't want to have a conversation. My mother wants to dictate how I live my life and how I raise her grandchildren."

"Tell her that unless she cleans up her act, she's not allowed near the kids," he figured, getting worked up a little. "I'll tell her myself if I have to."

"I appreciate the enthusiasm, dude, but you're staying out of this."

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I don't mean to overstep but it's just that the reason you're not on good terms really isn't worth it," he mumbled, looking away from her. "Nothing lasts forever." He shrugged.

Beca placed down the bottle of liquor down before she reached out her arms for him. "Come here," she sighed, knowing exactly where his mind wandered off as he stared at the sky: his late parents and more specifically his mother.

He obliged, closing his eyes as she wrapped her arms around him and resting his head on her shoulder. "Did I ever tell you about the letter your mother wrote to me to ask if it's okay to throw Aiden a bar mitzvah?"

He shook his head.

"It was so well written, I had to use the dictionary for some of the words," she snorted, caressing his hair. "Because I'm not Jewish, Aiden isn't technically Jewish but she really wanted to share that part of your culture with him. I said yes and told her she didn't have to ask when it came to cultural stuff. She insisted she had to. Your mother is one of the nicest people I ever met."

"Yeah, she was," he agreed, his eyes watering a little. Jesse took a moment to compose himself before he sucked in a breath and sat up.

"You alright?" Beca checked, cupping his cheek.

"Yeah," he smiled.

She rubbed her thumb against his cheekbone and leaned in to place a peck on his lips. "My mom is nothing like yours but you're right," she clicked her tongue. "Nothing lasts forever," she echoed his words. "I'm going to give it one more shot wholeheartedly. Just one. And you can't try to change my mind about it."

"Dinner here?" he offered.

"Yeah," she nodded. "Sounds good."

He pulled her onto his lap, hugging her tightly.

"Dude, I'm sorry, I can't stand the smell of bleach," she mumbled, pushing him away.

"I'll go get in the shower right now if you come with me," he chuckled.

"You don't have to ask twice," she replied almost instantly.


End file.
